2017 Season - Rate the Drivers

[Penfold]

Baku:

Merc:
Hammy - 9 - Headrest cost him the race.
Val - 7 - Hit Kimi; race saved by safety cars.

Red Bull
Dan - 9 - Won by dint of main rivals falling by the wayside, slower than Max all weekend.
Max - 9 - Ahead of Dan all weekend, let down once again by his car....

Ferrari:
Seb - 3 - Good drive except that he deliberately drove into Ham... damn lucky to escape a race ban.
Kimi - 8 - Hit by Bottas, race stuffed.

Force India:
Perez - 9 - Would've expected a haul of points given difficulties suffered by the top teams, instead teamy pushed him into a wall.
Ocon - 4 - Stupid to squeeze someone so hard, elevating to moronic when it's your team-'mate'.

Williams
Baby - 9 - What could've been....
Stroll - 9 - Kept it all together in a race full of incidents - seems calmer at wheel after Canada result.

McHonda
Alonso - 9 - Okay, so he needed multiple retirements to scrape into ninth, but blame the engine for that not the man.
Van Door - 5 - And five might be generous... must be my lowest ranked driver this season.

Toro Rosso:
Sainz - 7 - Hilarious spin at turn 1, solid drive after that.
Kvyat - 6 - Early retirement.

Haas:
Big Jean - 5 - Performances this year surely killed any prospect of moving to a bigger team.
Son of Magnus - 9 - Very good.

Renault:
Hulk - 5 - Whoops.
Palmer - X - Car died in quali and in the race.

Sauber:
Chrill's mate Marcus - 7 - Let Wehrlein past to safeguard point lest Van Door caught them.
Blaise - 7 - Was let past by Eric's son to safeguard point for team.

[Chrill]

Van Door - 5 - And five might be generous... must be my lowest ranked driver this season.

Well, let's find out! Your top 3 ranked are:

1: Sebastian Vettel (avg. 8.375)
2: Fernando Alonso (8.167)
3: Max Verstappen (8.000)

Your bottom 3 ranked are:

1: Jolyon Palmer (avg. 3.714)
2: Stoffel Vandoorne (4.571)
3: Lance Stroll (5.125)

Button is 3.000 for you but since he was only there for a race, I am excluding him. Stroll is third worst despite scoring 9 in Baku. Vettel is best despite scoring 3 in Baku. Before Baku, Vettel's average was 9.143 from you, courtesy of 10 points in Australia and solid 9s through all other races.

For me, this is the top 3:

1: Sebastian Vettel (8.143)
2: Fernando Alonso (8.000)
3: Felipe Massa (7.714)

Bottom 3:

1: Jolyon Palmer (3.857)
2: Stoffel Vandoorne (4.667)
3: Lance Stroll (5.143)

We put 5/6 drivers in the same spot. You ranked Verstappen third, I rank him as far down as 12th best this season. I rank Felipe Massa 3rd, you rank Massa 7th.

Other stats standing out:
Lewis is your sixth best, my 13th best. That's about it. The rest are very close to each other.

[Chrill]

Austrian GP, Red Bull Ring. Österreichring. A1-Ring. Whatever.

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton – 6/10 (Only qualified 3rd, behind his team mate and Vettel. Started 8th and barely passed Raikkonen before failing to catch Ricciardo. Not very good.)
Valtteri Bottas – 10/10 (The drive itself wasn't 10/10 but that start was. He moved before the red lights, but only so little that the jump start trigger never did trigger. 9/10 for race, +1 for start. Could EASILY have been a jump start, but he got it perfectly right)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo – 9/10 (In a way a better race than in Baku. He kept one Ferrari and one Mercedes behind him. Well deserved podium)
Max Verstappen – X/10

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel – 8/10 (Couldn't quite keep up with Bottas today. Still increased his gap to Hamilton so it's all good)
Kimi Räikkönen – 6/10 (Not good enough, Kimi. Time to step up)

Force India:
Sergio Perez – 8/10 (Recovers from Baku debacle with a good solid P7)
Esteban Ocon – 7/10 (Recovers from Baku debacle with a good solid P8. Just a tad slower than Perez)

Williams:
Felipe Massa – 9/10 (Well, the Williams was awful on Saturday. P17 in quali. HE SCORED POINTS ANYWAY. That's my man!)
Lance Stroll – 9/10 (Well, the Will.. yeah, see above. P18 to P10 is very solid)

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso – X/10 (aww nuts)
Stoffel Vandoorne – 6/10 (Well he made it to the end, but that was uneventful. Kept an ailing Hulk behind him so that's nice)

Toro Rosso:
Carlos Sainz Jr – 7/10 (Ran solidly in points before car failure. Poor boy)
Daniil Kvyat – 1/10 (Never have I ever rated someone 1/10. I think. But Kvyat should not be allowed to race in the first corner. He should enter the race at T2. Dangerous)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean – 10/10 (Here's a 10/10. Managed to use his brakes this weekend, and it gave him P6 and a healthy load of points. Great stuff from the Frenchman, and suddenly he's an option for Ferrari again)
Kevin Magnussen – 8/10 (Darnit. My third driver this week. Looked so strong in practice, broke down in quali, broke down again in race. Damn)

Renault:
Nico Hülkenberg – 6/10 (His car was arguing with him throughout the entire race. Could not show what he was capable of)
Jolyon Palmer – 7/10 (Actually came close to scoring points today. Still didn't do it, though)

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson – 6/10 (That Sauber car is just.. slow. It's so slow. Painful)
Pascal Wehrlein – 7/10 (This Sauber car is also.. slow. It was a teensy bit faster than the other one though. Thus one point higher)


Driver of the weekend, Grosjean.

[Penfold]

Why did I think Toffee Van Door could be my lowest rated driver... of course it's going to be Palmer.  Silly me.

So we're quite similar in scoring except that Max & Hammy are not feeling the love from you this season.  Let's see if this trend continues with Austria... but not today, for I shall post them instead after the sun has risen once more.

[Penfold]

Austria:

Merc:
Hammy - 6 - Mediocre.
Val - 9 - Pole position, superb start (0.2 sec reaction time) and no mistakes in race; but also Merc. was quickest car & no battling for position hence not a ten.

Red Bull
Dan - 9 - Qualified ahead of Max, faultless race, held off Hammy - tempted to award a ten.
Max - X - Kvyatted.

Ferrari:
Seb - 9 - A few more laps and I reckon he could've had Bottas.
Kimi - 6 - That was slow.  Again.

Force India:
Perez - 8 - Solid.
Ocon - 7 - Solid but just a tad slower.

Williams
Baby - 8 - Great first lap to take advantage of carnage.
Stroll - 8 - Great first lap to take advantage of carnage.

McHonda
Alonso - X - See Max.
Van Door - 5 - And five might be generous... will soon be my lowest ranked driver if he doesn't improve.

Toro Rosso:
Sainz - 7 - Good.
Kvyat - 0 - Horrific.  The more stupid crashes you have the more points you lose... and he has had many these past two seasons.

Haas:
Big Jean - 10 - What a way to bounce back.  That's the Grosjean of old (last year).
Son of Magnus - 8 - Was fast when the car was working... which wasn't for long enough.

Renault:
Hulk - 5 - Unusually slow.
Palmer - 7 - Unusually fast... or at least not embarrassingly slow.

Sauber:
Chrill's mate Marcus - 6 - Wow, those Saubers were slow.  As that other chap said, painful to watch - probably worse to drive.
Blaise - 7 - Marginally less slow than the other blue car.

[Penfold]

Forgot to do Silverstone!  Now I can barely remember the race... skip it and move straight to Hungary?

[Chrill]

Oh my. I forgot Silverstone too. How silly. I shall return for the Grey rock of Silvery stones later.

HUNGARORING it is, then.

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton – 7/10 (Decent showing, but he was never much better than fourth fastest. +1 for letting Bottas pass at the end)
Valtteri Bottas – 7/10 (Yes he finished ahead of Hamilton after qualifying ahead of him. He never could bring it to Ferrari)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo – X/10 (Well)
Max Verstappen – 3/10 (Well...... Don't crash your team mate)

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel – 7/10 (How do you win so unconvincingly? He won from pole position. He secured pole. Then won the race. Still only 7/10)
Kimi Räikkönen – 8/10 (Should have attacked Vettel, but then again he knows he is to finish P2 behind the German. Did all we can expect)

Force India:
Sergio Perez – 8/10 (Fought his way back from a lowly 13th on the grid to a points position. Good)
Esteban Ocon – 7/10 (Just like his team mate, only from 11th on the grid. Not AS good, still pretty good)

Williams:
Paul di Resta – 7/10 (Well yes. He had never driven the car. Yes, he was only 7 tenths, I think, behind Stroll. Still, higher than 7 would require him to match Stroll in the race. He was running behind Sauber)
Lance Stroll – 6/10 (Is the Williams car suddenly this bad, or has Stroll fallen back

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso – 10/10 (It has to be. It cannot be anything else. P6 and fastest lap? I mean come on!)
Stoffel Vandoorne – 8/10 (First points of the season. Quite decent. And impressive quali too. Still, you are not keeping up with your Alonso)

Toro Rosso:
Carlos Sainz Jr – 8/10 (P7 is a decent points haul, he finished more or less where he started after battling it out with Alonso for a long time)
Daniil Kvyat – 6/10 (Mediocre at best. At least he only got one penalty point this weekend. That's an improvement)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean – 6/10 (Wasn't going too well, and then he retired. Like the Russian above him, mediocre at best)
Kevin Magnussen – 5/10 (In truth a pretty poor showing. Giving a bonus point for his reply to the Hulk. "Suck my balls, honey". That's gold)

Renault:
Nico Hülkenberg – 7/10 (Wasn't having a great weekend, then got pushed wide by KMag and praised the Dane for "most unsporting driver". Again. Good fun)
Jolyon Palmer – 5/10 (I hope this was his last race in F1. I hope Kubica is ready to replace him mid-season. I hope he is gone)

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson – 5/10 (Tried to do 66 laps on a set of softs. Got about 55 before they fell off the famous cliff. Wehrlein then ate him. He pitted from last, slapped on supersofts, and lapped some 4-5 seconds faster than Wehrlein. Didn't catch him.)
Pascal Wehrlein – 7/10 (Was quite simply the better Sauber driver here. Again.)

[Chrill]

OK. SILVERSTONE! Will draw from memory, so no detailed explanation to the ratings.

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton – 10/10
Valtteri Bottas – 9/10

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo – 9/10
Max Verstappen – 7/10

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel – 8/10
Kimi Räikkönen – 8/10

Force India:
Sergio Perez – 6/10
Esteban Ocon – 7/10

Williams:
Felipe Massa – 8/10
Lance Stroll – 5/10

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso – 7/10
Stoffel Vandoorne – 8/10

Toro Rosso:
Carlos Sainz Jr – X/10
Daniil Kvyat – 2/10

Haas:
Romain Grosjean – 6/10
Kevin Magnussen – 7/10

Renault:
Nico Hülkenberg – 9/10
Jolyon Palmer – X/10

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson – 9/10
Pascal Wehrlein – 5/10

Ericsson finished P14, ahead of a Toro Rosso, a Williams, and his team mate. Very strong. Would have been Driver of the race had it not been for an amazing Lewis Hamilton.

[Penfold]

Will be back to do this later today....

And I'm back.

Hungary:

Merc:
Hammy - 7 - Out-qualified by Bottas but bested him in the race.
Val - 6 - Out-raced by Hammy but bested him in qualifying - Sunday's efforts worth more than Saturday's.

Red Bull
Dan - X - Not a happy camper....
Max - 4 - Thou shalt not hit thy team-mate; that aside, man had a good race.

Ferrari:
Seb - 8 - Car was wonky from start of race so credit for bringing it home in first.
Kimi - 9 - Which in no small part was thanks to Mr. Raikkonen, the proud recipient of 2017's 'Rear Gunner of the Year' award.

Force India:
Perez - 8 - Not the greatest track for Force India but a strong showing by both drivers.
Ocon - 8 - Hence they both secure a magnificent eight points.

Williams
Great Scott - 6 - How to score when he leaps in on such short notice?  Certainly a solid effort.
Stroll - 5 - The Williams did not enjoy this track - seems to be a lot of that lately.

McHonda
Alonso - 10 - Of course.  How could you not?  Sublime.
Van Door - 7 - Improving and would've been an 'eighter' but for his pit-lane blunder.

Toro Rosso:
Sainz - 9 - That was as high as the car could go.
Kvyat - 6 - Still racing?  Drove around, didn't hit anyone... so, better than normal.

Haas:
Big Jean - 5 - Nothing to write home about.
Son of Magnus - 5 - Ditto.

Renault:
Hulk - 7 - Miles faster than Palmer.
Palmer - 4 - Miles slower than most of the field.

Sauber:
Chrill's mate Marcus - 5 - Lost track of what the hell was happening with the Sauber boys...
Blaise - 6 - ... but +1 to Pascal for finishing marginally ahead in quali & race.


I might even take a stab at some Silverstone scoring tomorrow.

[Penfold]

Definitely not the much hyped 'tomorrow', but Silverstone scores will be done later today.

Later today.

Silverstone:

Merc:
Hammy - 10
Val - 8

Red Bull
Dan - 9
Max - 8

Ferrari:
Seb - 7
Kimi - 8

Force India:
Perez - 7
Ocon - 8

Williams
Baby - 7
Stroll - 5

McHonda
Alonso - 6
Van Door - 7

Toro Rosso:
Sainz - X
Kvyat - 1

Haas:
Big Jean - 6
Son of Magnus - 7

Renault:
Hulk - 9
Palmer X

Sauber:
Chrill's mate Marcus - 8
Blaise - 5

[Chrill]

Let us rate the Belgian Grand Prix. It was held in Belgium, on the Belgian track Spa-Francorchamps located in the Belgian commune of Francorchamps which forms part of Stavelot, a Belgian municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, a province in Belgium where the Belgian Grand Prix is held. The most popular Belgian driver currently in F1 is Max Verstappen from Belgium who isn't Belgian but is Dutch which borders Belgium.


Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton – 10/10 (Could do nothing more than this. His ability to keep Vettel behind him at the SC restart was nothing short of great, even admitting to lifting to bring Vettel close at an inconvenient point for the German. Neat stuff. 200 GPs, matching Schumacher's 68 poles)
Valtteri Bottas – 6/10 (A bit better than mediocre, but not much. His car is capable of more than P5 especially when his fellow Finn accelerates past waved yellows)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo – 9/10 (He should not have made the podium here. His car was not up for it. Still, he did)
Max Verstappen – 7/10 (Decent getaway but cannot catch a break. Poor kid. Deserves to finish a race or two)

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel – 9/10 (So close to a 10, but should have been able to force himself past Hamilton for it. Still, great stuff hauling a Ferrari to P2 when it was not as fast as the Silver Arrows)
Kimi Räikkönen – 5/10 (With all the talk of slowing over double waved yellows, he simply cannot comprehend why he was penalised. Rules are rules, they don't apply differently on straights. For all we know, a volunteer could have stumbled massively and fallen on track. I mean, not likely but still)

Force India:
Sergio Perez – 4/10 (Crashed his team mate twice. Ugly)
Esteban Ocon – 8/10 (Could have avoided the second crash for sure, but had every right to position himself there. Can't be held responsible for the second crash. Still finished in the points)

Williams:
Felipe Massa – 9/10 (How does he do it? I didn't see him all race and suddenly he finishes 8 places higher than where he started? Nice stuff really)
Lance Stroll – 7/10 (Battled it out with Toro Rosso through much of the race. Actually didn't do too badly, even though he was awarded 0 points at the end)

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso – 8/10 (Great start, up running in P7. Then retired an "unhealthy" car which most likely was so shit Alonso interpreted it as broken. Was overtaken once per straight)
Stoffel Vandoorne – 6/10 (Beat one Haas courtesy of Magnussen forgetting to slow down for the hairpin. Beat one Sauber courtesy of the Sauber being a useless piece of sh*t. In a way I count him as finishing last)

Toro Rosso:
Carlos Sainz Jr – 7/10 (Decent enough, securing points on a track where Toro Rosso isn't all that strong. Also kept beating his Russian friend which is to be expected)
Daniil Kvyat – 4/10 (The only good thing we can say here is that he completed an entire race without being penalised. Good for him)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean – 9/10 (Finished higher than his car should let him. Actually second best of the rest behind the Hulk. Clean driving throughout)
Kevin Magnussen – 4/10 (When your team mate finishes in P7, and you finish 16th of 17 runners there is no excuse. Poor race)

Renault:
Nico Hülkenberg – 10/10 (Some sweet overtaking, some great racing. Deserves to finish best of the rest yet again)
Jolyon Palmer – 6/10 (This guy. Retires from quali, left starting way back. Technically went backwards in the race since several drivers ahead of him DNFed. Extra point awarded for a sweet battle with Alonso, I believe it was)

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson – 8/10 (Can't do much more than this on Spa. Losing 2 seconds in the first sector alone, Ericsson finishing this close to other cars is remarkable in its own right. I can't help but feel this weekend was a turnaround, he beat Wehrlein by 0.4 seconds in quali and left the German way behind him at the start)
Pascal Wehrlein – X/10 (DNFed after technical errors. Can't really rate him since he raced for so short)


Driver of the week? I've got to hand it to Hamilton, but the Hulk is a strong second.

[Penfold]

I must score last Sunday's race.  I think it was in Belgium.

Back later.


Some time later....

Belgium:

Merc:
Hammy - 10 - Has to be.  Didn't put a foot wrong.
Val - 6 - Tempted to award just a five, but as you said he was a bit better than mediocre.  But only a bit.

Red Bull
Dan - 8 - Good in race but not even close to his team-mate in qualifying.
Max - 8 - Comfortably ahead of Dan in quali, car died (again) in race.

Ferrari:
Seb - 10 - Couldn't out-drag Hammy's 'trimmed for speed' Merc, but a flawless weekend from the Seb.
Kimi - 6 - Off Vettel's pace and chose to ignore those pesky yellow flags.  What a great idea.

Force India:
Perez - 0 - That's for squeezing Ocon towards a wall.  Stupid and dangerous.  Personally I'd ban him for a race in the hope he might realise he was in the wrong.   
Ocon - 8 - Tried to abort the pass on Perez when he saw the squeeze coming; at least that left us with front-wing slicing rear tyre, rather than some potentially horrible wheel-on-wheel, car goes flying scenario.

Williams
Baby - 8 - Sneaked a few points which was more than the car deserved.
Stroll - 7 - Solid showing.  Closing the gap to Felipe.

McHonda
Alonso - 7 - Insanely slow in a straight line, no chance to hold a decent position.
Van Door - 5 - Mediocre.

Toro Rosso:
Sainz - 7 - Ahead of the cars you'd expect given track characteristics.
Kvyat - 6 - Ahead of most of the cars you'd expect given track characteristics.

Haas:
Big Jean - 9 - One of his 'on' races... followed by an 'off' one at Monza.
Son of Magnus - 4 - Semi-permanently in the 'off' position.

Renault:
Hulk - 9 - What we've come to expect.  Thumbs up to the Renault guys for hiring him.
Palmer - 5 - So good in practice and quali (until car died); hit by grid penalty but then lacking pace on Sunday.  Doubly disappointing as he was my weekly pick.

Sauber:
Chrill's mate Marcus - 7 - Slow car but out-qualified the former next big thing Pascal Wehrlein by a decent margin.
Blaise - X - Retired early.

[Chrill]

Italy was a snorefest, but ratings are required.

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton – 7/10 (Never had to push. At all.)
Valtteri Bottas – 7/10 (See above)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo – 10/10 (Qualified well, demoted on grid, made it back up to P4. NEAT!)
Max Verstappen – 7/10 (Not as neat, but still not bad)

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel – 6/10 (Sorry, but the distance to Mercedes was not good enough)
Kimi Räikkönen – 4/10 (Like Vettel, only even worse)

Force India:
Sergio Perez – 6/10 (Scored points. That is all)
Esteban Ocon – 8/10 (Immense qualifying session, decent race. P6 was as good as he could achieve)

Williams:
Felipe Massa – 6/10 (Decent battles with drivers around him, almost caught the Strollster too. Nice)
Lance Stroll – 7/10 (P2 on grid. Well deserved. Race did not live up to his qualifying promise, but still not bad)

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso – 6/10 (A bit disappointed with his moaning about Palmer here. I mean, it's fun, but focus on the task at hand)
Stoffel Vandoorne – 8/10 (Was better than his double world champion team mate this weekend. Sad to see them both retiring)

Toro Rosso:
Carlos Sainz Jr – 5/10 (Pretty invisible this weekend. Hard to rate.)
Daniil Kvyat – 6/10 (See above, but higher up in the result)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean – 4/10 (Fairly weak showing, struggling to match even the Saubers at times)
Kevin Magnussen – 7/10 (Better than RoGro for sure. Just missed out on points after a late dive from Verstappen)

Renault:
Nico Hülkenberg – 6/10 (Renaults nowhere to be found at Monza. Did what he could, but what he could was not what he needed to do)
Jolyon Palmer – 5/10 (Still paler than Hulkenberg, but not by much)

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson – 7/10 (Ran well until Wehrlein ran into him. Retired an ailing car a bit later)
Pascal Wehrlein – 4/10 (Noooo. Never crash your team mate, silly man. Have you been to the Force India school of team spirit?)

[Penfold]

Italy:

Merc:
Hammy - 8 - Easy victory.
Val - 7 - Easy second place.

Red Bull
Dan - 9 - Strong quali, super drive through the field after penalty.
Max - 7 - Even stronger quali, incredible gains through field until overly-optimistic move on Massa - can't always jump at first opportunity to pass.

Ferrari:
Seb - 8 - Car well off Merc pace so third was best on offer.
Kimi - 6 - Twenty four seconds behind Seb.

Force India:
Perez - 7 - Good but couldn't rival his upstart team-mate.   
Ocon - 9 - Superb qualifying and faultless race.

Williams
Baby - 6 - Beaten by Lance on pace for the first time (I think).
Stroll - 8 - Youngest ever to start from front row of F1 grid.  Not bad.  Damaged tyres after pit stop which affected handling and killed any chance of attacking Ocon.

McHonda - Mystery as to why they're ditching Honda!
Alonso - 6 - DNF.  Not a stellar showing from The Man but then probably went into Monza thinking "this will be shit" - or the Spanish equivalent.
Van Door - 7 - DNF.  Reasonable showing.

Toro Rosso:
Sainz - 5 - He was in the race?  Really?
Kvyat - 6 - Umm... he didn't hit anyone and finished ahead of Sainz.  It doesn't get any better for Daniil.

Haas:
Big Jean - 4 - A poor effort... so should manage a decent one in Singapore.
Son of Magnus - 7 - Good position for the car, shame he lost out on tenth.

Renault:
Hulk - 6 - Not a Renault track, expecting better this weekend.
Palmer - 5 - Not a Renault track, not necessarily expecting better this weekend.

Sauber:
Chrill's mate Marcus - 6 - Once again out-qualified the former 'next big thing' Pascal Wehrlein, though not by much this time.
Blaise - 3 - Don't hit team-mate.

[Chrill]

LET US GO TO A WET NIGHT RACE IN LE SINGAPORE

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton – 10/10 (Fuck this guy. He's good. He's gooooood.)
Valtteri Bottas – 7/10 (Finished P3 by default really)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo – 9/10 (Nursed an ailing car with a failing gearbox to P2. Hello!)
Max Verstappen – X/10 (Not carrying blame for start crash)

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel – 3/10 (Carrying blame for start crash)
Kimi Räikkönen – X/10 (Not carrying blame for start crash)

Force India:
Sergio Perez – 9/10 (From 12th on the grid to P5. Sure he gained 4 positions in first corner carnage, but that's irrelevant because he fought his way and kept his cool. NEAT!)
Esteban Ocon – 6/10 (Looked good at the start but dropped back. Fatigue, maybe? Still salvaged points)

Williams:
Felipe Massa – 4/10 (No. We can pretend Sauber doesn't exist because Pascal was so disgustingly off-pace. Massa ran behind Marcus Ericsson for most of the race. Rain is not his forté)
Lance Stroll – 8/10 (Much better. P18 to P8 in a messy race. Somehow, Lance Stroll is at his best when the races are difficult. Baku, Singapore, Monza quali? Good stuff. Impressing me)

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso – X/10 (Not carrying blame for start crash, obviously)
Stoffel Vandoorne – 7/10 (Very solid points for his McLaren team, P7 is good even when considering the number of retirements here)

Toro Rosso:
Carlos Sainz Jr – 10/10 (Boomchackalacka, or whatever they said. P4, from tenth on the grid. Held Pérez behind him so well. Great race for the Renault man)
Daniil Kvyat – 4/10 (How Kvyatesque of him, crashing out in an overambitious display of speed)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean – 7/10 (Well. He finished in the points. We can ask of no more in a race like this. Very acceptable)
Kevin Magnussen – 7/10 (Well. He didn't finish. His engine went kaput. Before that, though, he was running in the points. We can ask of no more in a race like this. Very acceptable)

Renault:
Nico Hülkenberg – 9/10 (So sad to see a P4 slip away due to hydraulic issues, or whatever it was. He pitted for a minute while they filled up some fluid by the engine. Clearly hampered, ended up retiring. Was looking so good!)
Jolyon Palmer – 9/10 (How? It's a P6 for Palmer, his first points of the year and he salvages 8 of them. Very good, kept his cool, kept it together. Good stuff. Made a case for himself to keep the drive for the rest of 2017)

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson – 6/10 (Deducting 2 points for that silly spin near the end of the race. Embarrassing. Still, ate Wehrlein for breakfast here)
Pascal Wehrlein – 5/10 (So very off-pace, oh boy. Even when Sauber put Marcus on softs, and Marcus lapped 8-10 seconds too slow for 5 laps, Wehrlein was over a pit stop down)




Driver of the race? Damn. It's Lewis, isn't it? Yup. Argh.