2017 Season - Rate the Drivers

[Chrill]

Let's do Russia, then. An exciting race in the end, but there was not ONE overtake for position after the Safety Car. Not. One. Sochi is simply a useless circuit.

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton – 5/10 (What a mediocre weekend for him. Only P4 in quali and destroyed by his team mate and by both Ferrari drivers. One to forget.)
Valtteri Bottas – 10/10 (It's another 10. Beat his team mate in quali, great getaway at the start and kept Vettel behind him at the end. Could not ask for more)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo – 6/10 (Disappeared too soon)
Max Verstappen – 7/10 (Drove solo the entire race. No idea if he was great or poor because the Red Bull is far better than all cars except the top two. It's also far worse than the top two)

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel – 8/10 (Pole position, great! Lost the start, not as great. Looked set for a proper comeback in the end but did not pull it off)
Kimi Räikkönen – 8/10 (Actually on par with his team mate in both quali and race. I'm glad)

Force India:
Sergio Perez – 8/10 (Keeps scoring the maximum points, keeps beating his team mate)
Esteban Ocon – 7/10 (Keeps scoring points too, but should start beating his team mate)

Williams:
Felipe Massa – 9/10 (Once more, he is best of the rest. Appears to be relishing this opportunity to dominate his team mate)
Lance Stroll – 6/10 (Great, he actually finished. It's about time he started helping with points too. Your honey moon period is over)

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso – X/10 (Did not start)
Stoffel Vandoorne – 5/10 (Only just managaed to beat the Saubers. Mediocre)

Toro Rosso:
Carlos Sainz Jr – 7/10 (Scored points from far back. Pretty decent, but nothing more than decent)
Daniil Kvyat – 5/10 (Home race? Extremely invisible race. Poor)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean – 3/10 (Clumsy start)
Kevin Magnussen – 4/10 (Perhaps he should just have joined his team mate in the first lap. Not at all impressive)

Renault:
Nico Hülkenberg – 9/10 (P8 is good, especially when compared to...)
Jolyon Palmer – 4/10 (...Palmer. Should have seen Grosjean divebombing. Didn't. Shame)

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson – 8/10 (Finally a strong race. Convincingly beat Wehrlein after emerging in front at the pit stops. Tried to get close to Stoffel Vandoorne but couldn't quite make it happen despite a speed advantage)
Pascal Wehrlein – 6/10 (If you finish last, 6/10 is the best you can get. Some 10 seconds behind Ericsson, although did qualify ahead of him)

[Penfold]

Very good.  I shall get round to doing Russia scores soon(ish).

Edit: Soon, honestly....

[Chrill]

Honestly, what are we doing here? Rating or ping pong?

[Penfold]

Whiff-whaff....

Russia (sans my usual comprehensive witty commentary):

Merc:
Hammy - 5
Val - 10

Red Bull
Dan - 7
Max - 7

Ferrari:
Seb - 9 - Just a notch above team-mate
Kimi - 8 - Just a notch behind....

Force India:
Perez - 8 - What I said about Vettel
Ocon - 7 - What I said about Kimi....

Williams
Baby - 8
Stroll - 6 - Stilll too slow.

McHonda - Good grief.
Alonso - X
Van Door - 6 - Poor; but was it him, the car, or a joint effort?

Toro Rosso:
Sainz - 8
Kvyat - 6

Haas:
Big Jean - 2 - Has he decided to alternate decent races with crap ones?
Son of Magnus - 4

Renault:
Hulk - 10 - All the car had to offer
Palmer - 4

Sauber:
Chrill's mate Marcus - 7
Blaise - 6

The Race: 4/10  I really, really, really, really, really despise this circuit.  It is just so fecking awful.  Still, at least Barcelona normally produces exciting races... right?

[Chrill]

[spanish_sound_pronounciation]¡Hola a todos! Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya[/spanish_sound_pronounciation]

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton – 9/10 (Lost the start. Did everything right after that)
Valtteri Bottas – 5/10 (Lost the start. Then punted Kimi and Verstappen off the track. Then nowhere to be found. Then let Vettel past him too easily. Then retired)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo – 8/10 (Podium not on merit but by default. No one else was around to score it. Did his best, still one full minute behind the leading duo)
Max Verstappen – x/10 (Couldn't do anything about the first corner incident)

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel – 9/10 (Won the start. Did everything right after that, except winning)
Kimi Räikkönen – x/10 (See Verstappen)

Force India:
Sergio Perez – 8/10 (Stayed out of trouble and scored fantastic points for his team)
Esteban Ocon – 8/10 (See Perez)

Williams:
Felipe Massa – 5/10 (So very poor. Punted Alonso off the track in turn 2, and then had a really bad race)
Lance Stroll – 2/10 (Despite what Massa did, Stroll could not beat him. This was quite an awful weekend for him. Really poor)

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso – 6/10 (Great quali, but poor in race. Behind both Saubers!!)
Stoffel Vandoorne – 4/10 (Battling it out with the Williams cars before forgetting to look where he's going. Absolute rookie error, that should not happen in F1)

Toro Rosso:
Carlos Sainz Jr – 7/10 (Should have found a way past Wehrlein. Really)
Daniil Kvyat – 6/10 (Not bad, just not quite on the level of Sainz. And since Sainz scored 7, well Kvyat scores 6)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean – 6/10 (He scored points, but only because all his midfield rivals messed up. Was not a great drive, but also wasn't poor. Decent is the word, yeah)
Kevin Magnussen – 4/10 (P14? How? Did that many cars even finish the race?)

Renault:
Nico Hülkenberg – 9/10 (In a world where Force India is apparently ahead of the midfield, Nico must be the best of the rest. Solid. Nice)
Jolyon Palmer – 3/10 (Why is he even still in F1? He only beat Stroll. He. Only. Beat. Stroll. Not good enough, especially when your team mate finishes P6)

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson – 8/10 (Really solid drive, was on for points until unlucky with the VSC. Pulled off some great, and uncharacteristic, overtaking moves. Twice past Stroll and also passing Alonso.
Pascal Wehrlein – 9/10 (A definite 10/10. Only it wasn't 10/10 because he failed to enter the pits which cost him P7. Still, definitely my driver of the race. Wow!)

[Penfold]

Spain:

Merc:
Hammy - 9 - Nearly perfect
Val - 6 - Won't dock points for racing incident at turn 1; will dock points for being off the pace.

Red Bull
Dan - 8 - Solid but didn't have to actually race anybody....
Max - X

Ferrari:
Seb - 9 - Fluffed quali but made amends at race start.
Kimi - X

Force India:
Perez - 8 - Obviously benefiting from carnage ahead but great points for team.
Ocon - 8 - As Perez.

Williams
Baby - 5 - Ruined race by driving into Alonso (although Stoffel didn't help).  Team said car had pace to beat Force Indias, instead they get zero points.
Stroll - 2 - No help on that front from Stroll.  Painfully slow compared to Massa.

McHonda
Alonso - 6 - Great quali but lack of straight-line speed means overtaking still incredibly difficult.
Van Door - 2 - Miles behind Alonso in quali and then turned into Massa.

Toro Rosso:
Sainz - 8 - V. good but not spectacular.
Kvyat - 6 - Shocked to see him beaten by Sainz....

Haas:
Big Jean - 5 - Decided to throw a mediocre performance into the mix.
Son of Magnus - 3 - Not even mediocre

Renault:
Hulk - 9 - Another cracking result.
Palmer - 2 - Another crap one.

Sauber:
Chrill's mate Marcus - 8 - Unlucky with timing of safety car compared to team-mate.
Blaise - 9 - Great drive; one off for pit mistake.

[Penfold]

Must get round to doing Monaco.  Bit of an odd one to score what with the race being such a procession; basically it's quali. performance relative to team-mate and then with points off for errors on Sunday.  Not going to be a good tally for Mr. Van Door....

[Chrill]

Even I forgot Monaco ratings. It was that poor, the race.

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton – 4/10 (Who knew he could be this bad? Don't even blame Vandoorne for crashing in Q2, Lewis had 14 minutes to set a competitive lap time before that and failed)
Valtteri Bottas – 8/10 (The Mercedes was badly equipped for Monaco, but he put it third on grid and fourth in race. Kept Verstappen behind by matching his strategy, Ricciardo made full use of that)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo – 9/10 (Qualified 5th but made up for it in the race. Podium!)
Max Verstappen – 6/10 (Really the numbers for Red Bull could be reversed had their strategies panned out differently. It is what it is.)

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel – 9/10 (Almost a perfect 10. Should have scored the pole)
Kimi Räikkönen – 9/10 (Scored the pole! Should have won. Not that great in the race but still comfortably second)

Force India:
Sergio Perez – 4/10 (For once not a great race. How unusual!)
Esteban Ocon – 5/10 (Also out of the points. Sorryyyyyy)

Williams:
Felipe Massa – 9/10 (The Williams car should not score points in Monaco. Massa scored points in Monaco. From way back on the grid. Enough said)
Lance Stroll – 3/10 (Dead last, like always. Was he even in the race?)

McLaren:
Jenson Button – 2/10 (only beat Vandoorne by default, then pitted and ended up behind BOTH Saubers. HOW?! Wehrlein was ahead of you. HOW?! Then he crashed the poor German. Will serve a grid penalty in his next race, which is never)
Stoffel Vandoorne – 3/10 (Yes. He crashed both in quali and race. Still better than Button)

Toro Rosso:
Carlos Sainz Jr – 9/10 (Qualified a beautiful sixth. Stayed there too, keeping Lewis behind. Solid)
Daniil Kvyat – 7/10 (Reliable ninth on grid, ended up not finishing. Who to blame? Not him. Still, 3 placed behind teammate on grid is substantial)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean – 8/10 (Should have scored points from 8th on the grid. Did)
Kevin Magnussen – 7/10 (Didn't make Q3, ended up points due to retirements ahead of him. Stayed out of trouble which many other did not)

Renault:
Nico Hülkenberg – 7/10 (Retired early after just qualifying in 10th courtesy of a Q3 appearance.)
Jolyon Palmer – 4/10 (So far behind Nico. Come on, Renault, kick him out. Sign Vergne or Heidfeld or whoever in Formula E. Do it now)

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson – 6/10 (Was running ahead of Wehrlein and had fresher tyres too. Then he forgot that brake temperatures may change under Safety Car and made an absolute fool of himself. Poor. Removing 1 point for that)
Pascal Wehrlein – 7/10 (Qualified ahead of Marcus. Beat Button in the pits. Then ended up on his side. Strange accident. Not his fault)

[Penfold]

Re: Button - Ended up behind Wehrlein because that's where he was before the pit-stop and Sauber threw in an unsafe release which kept them the position.

[Chrill]

Oh right. Honda engine malfunction. I should have known.

[Penfold]

Monaco:

Merc:
Hammy - 4 - Quite terrible.
Val - 8 - Quite good.

Red Bull
Dan - 7 - Half a second off Max in quali, clipped wall in race, but came home 3rd thanks to luck of the strategy.
Max - 8 - Faster than Dan and error free.

Ferrari:
Seb - 9 - Impressive turn of speed after Kimi pitted.
Kimi - 8 - Seb showed the car/tyres had pace to pull a bigger gap to rest of field before he pitted.

Force India:
Perez - 3 - Massive points deduction for crashing into Kyvat - a move at least as optimistic as Button's on Wehrlein.
Ocon - 5 - Well off in quali and nowhere in race.

Williams
Baby - 8 - Strong effort to grab a couple of points.
Stroll - 3 - Over one second off Massa in quali....

McHonda
Chip Butty - 3 - Didn't crash in quali but stuck at back of grid through Honda penalty.  Points off for clumsy attempt on Pascal.
Van Door - 2 - Crashed.  Crashed again.

Toro Rosso:
Sainz - 9 - Somebody give this guy a top tier car.
Kvyat - 7 - Okay but not spectacular... and then Perez showed up.

Haas:
Big Jean - 8 - This time a good race.
Son of Magnus - 7 - And one for him as well.  Remarkable.

Renault:
Hulk - 7 - Only qualified twelfth (started tenth after grid penalties) but way ahead of teamy.
Palmer - 3 - So far behind Hulk.  Three points almost seems generous but at least he saw the chequered flag on Sunday.

Sauber:
Chrill's mate Marcus - 5 - Actually seemed to have better pace than Wehrlein during race, too bad that I deduct heavily for dumb crashes.
Blaise - 6 - Completely unremarkable performance, except for the failed attempt at some stunt driving in collaboration with JB.

[Chrill]

Courtesy of being in the Czech Republic over the Canadian GP weekend, I will not be rating. I managed to catch the start over a rather unreliable 3g connection before I went to dinner at a restaurant with no reception or wifi. So yeah. I saw Vettel go ouchie on his front wing, Verstappen pull to a halt, and that's about it.

[Penfold]

In that case I'll let you off.  My scores will be up sometime this side of Baku....

[Penfold]

Canada:

Merc:
Hammy - 9 - Pole and a flawless race but no real racing required as rivals taken out of the equation.
Val - 7 - Seems fair given performance gap to his team-mate.

Red Bull
Dan - 7 - Podium but not a spectacular showing.
Max - 8 - Faster than Dan & a tremendous start - once again let down by car.

Ferrari:
Seb - 9 - Great recovery drive after being clipped by Max; overtake on Ocon stands out.
Kimi - 7 - Seems fair given performance gap to his team-mate.

Force India:
Perez - 9 - Tough to see team top this weekend; v. good drives by both...
Ocon - 9 - ... and tremendous entertainment in closing stages as they duked it out.

Williams
Baby - X - Taken out by Sainz in a race which should've afforded team decent points (he out-qualified both Force Indias).
Stroll - 6 - Got to the end & scored first F1 points but car had much more in it than a ninth.

McHonda
Alonso - 7 - Was on for a point until car died.
Van Door - 5 - Was never on for a point.  Not even close.

Toro Rosso:
Sainz - 3 - Squeezed Big Jean on lap 1 causing himself to crash and collect Massa on the way.
Kvyat - 7 - Umm, can't remember what happened to him (car died?), but think he was running okay until then.

Haas:
Big Jean - 7 - Okay.
Son of Magnus - 6 - A tad off okay.

Renault:
Hulk - 8 - Usual strong showing.
Palmer - 5 - Pretty awful in quali but not horrific in race.

Sauber:
Chrill's mate Marcus - 6 - Hard to score as I didn't really notice either Sauber during the race, but, umm, better than his teamy.
Blaise - 5 - Crashed in quali, ran at back in race.

[Chrill]

Here we go, I am back to rating! Azerbaijan GP, yes it is:

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton – 8/10 (Should have won. Messed it up behind the SC, before being unlucky with his neck protection or whatever that was. Still, a very solid drive)
Valtteri Bottas – 9/10 (Was lucky to survive turn 2 which was caused by Bottas, but still wasn't really his fault. Made up for it by finishing second after an amazing recovery. Good stuff)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo – 10/10 (Starts P10, suffers brake issues forcing a pit stop. Wins. WHAT?! How?!)
Max Verstappen – 6/10 (I don't even recall seeing him in this race)

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel – 3/10 (What was that? You crashed into your championship rival on purpose. You are a four time world champion. Disgraceful)
Kimi Räikkönen – 8/10 (Was on course to win when Vettel and Hamilton hit trouble (and each other). Very unlucky to suffer puncture from the Force India debacle)

Force India:
Sergio Perez – 8/10 (Cannot be blamed for his collision with Ocon. Drove his heart out and was awarded with nothing)
Esteban Ocon – 6/10 (Drove a real good race, but simply left too little room for Perez. Can be blamed for that. Deducting points)

Williams:
Felipe Massa – 9/10 (Oh no!!! I was hoping for the Brazilian anthem today. We could have had, we should have heard it. Great driving, but ended up retiring the car after a suspension failure)
Lance Stroll – 10/10 (Well, what can we say? In a race packed with incidents, the youngest driver on the grid kept his head down and avoided every single incident. He finished in P3 not because he was the fastest, but because he drove the smartest and safest race. Very mature drive)

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso – 9/10 (The McLaren does not deserve points. Alonso deserves championships. Solid as ever)
Stoffel Vandoorne – 4/10 (Starting to ask questions now. Out of the 12 drivers who finished the race without major incidents, he was 12th. Behind both Saubers, even. Not good enough)

Toro Rosso:
Carlos Sainz Jr – 7/10 (Was perhaps too cautious when spinning into the first corner at the start, but ended up in solid points despite that. Good enough)
Daniil Kvyat – 5/10 (Missed turn 1, dived back on track only to scare his team mate. Then retired within 10 laps.)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean – 4/10 (Struggling with brakes all race. I am starting to think it's Grosjean, not the brakes, causing these issues. Noone else has them)
Kevin Magnussen – 9/10 (Was on for a podium for a while, before the world champion contenders decided to drive fast again. Did all he could. Drove a similar race to Stroll, but with a worse car. P7 is a great result for him)

Renault:
Nico Hülkenberg – 6/10 (He was fast. And then he turned into a wall. Did he assume he would have less grip? I guess so. A silly mistake to end his race)
Jolyon Palmer – 4/10 (Did he compete today? Really? Started at the back, retired early on. It's too late to shine now, he must be replaced)

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson – 7/10 (Ran P10 for much of the race but was slow with old tyres near the end. Had to let Wehrlein past to secure a point. Did so. Could not challenge the midfield today)
Pascal Wehrlein – 7/10 (Ran P11 for much of the race but was faster with fresher tyres near the end. Had to pass Ericsson to secure a point. Did so. Could not challenge the midfield today)