Messages

Happy to see you back at the rating game, you dropped off severely last year 

Hamilton 8 though? He finished a full 30 seconds behind his team mate, mind you. It's your call!

Yes. He finished second and secured a 1-2 for Merc. Had the drivers been reversed, I think most people would be comfortable giving Bottas an 8 for finishing second.

I won't be able to do every race this year, but I will try to do more. 

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton - 8/10
Valtteri Bottas - 10/10

Scuderia Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel - 7/10
Charles Leclerc - 8/10

Red Bull Racing:
Pierre Gasly - 5/10
Max Verstappen - 9/10

Renault F1 Team:
Daniel Ricciardo - N/A
Nico Hülkenberg - 8/10

Haas F1 Team:
Romain Grosjean - N/A
Kevin Magnussen - 10/10

McLaren F1 Team:
Lando Norris - 7/10
Carlos Sainz Jr. - N/A

Racing Point:
Sergio Perez - 6/10
Lance Stroll - 9/10

Alfa Romeo Racing:
Kimi Räikkönen - 8/10
Antonio Giovinazzi - 3/10

Toro Rosso:
Alexander Albon - 6/10
Daniil Kvyat - 8/10

Williams Racing: It is hard to rank Williams since they are so off the pace, but Kubica gets a 9 for returning from his injury and finishing the race.
George Russell - N/A
Robert Kubica - 9/10

First Driver: Sebastian Vettel
Second Driver: Kevin Magnussen

AUS. Magnussen
BAH. Norris
CHN. Bottas
AZE. Kubica
ESP. Sainz
MCO. Ricciardo
CAN. Hamilton
FRA. Gasly
AUT.
GBR.
DEU.
HUN.
BEL.
ITA.
SGP.
RUS.
JPN.
MEX.
USA.
BRA.
UAE.

Cheers!

No Matt or M4A1?

Sorry for my absence. Got married a few weeks ago and have been away for a few weeks. I?ll revisit the last 2 races and post my ratings.

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton - 9/10
Valtteri Bottas - 8/10

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel - 8/10
Kimi Raikkonen - X/10

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo - 6/10
Max Verstappen - 8/10

Force India:
Sergio Perez - 7/10
Esteban Ocon - X/10

Williams:
Lance Stroll - 7/10
Sergey Sirotkin - 5/10

Renault:
Carlos Sainz - 8/10
Nico Hulkenberg - X/10

Toro Rosso:
Pierre Gasly - X/10
Brendon Hartley - 6/10

Haas:
Romain Grosjean - 3/10
Kevin Magnussen - 9/10

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso - 8/10
Stoffel Vandoorne - X/10

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson - 6/10
Charles Leclerc - 9/10

I've added your ratings (including the change on Raikkonen) to the tables, here. Interesting to see your take on Ricciardo-Verstappen since our ratings differ. Let's take that to the "2018 Season" topic!

My take is this, it is not a drivers responsibility to move over and let another driver by, even if it is their teammate. Any driver who does that doesn't deserve to be racing. It is the team's responsibility to manage how the drivers race. RBR gambled and ended up with a crash.

Max & Ricciardo were racing hard. I did not appreciate Max's move inside Ricciardo earlier in the race when they touched, but he got away with it and they were clean. Daniel ended up with the lead and pitted first, Max out drove him on old tires and regained the spot. When Ricciardo was going to pass, there was no way Max was going to let him pass on the inside. Near the end of the straight, Max moves slightly back to the racing line for the corner, but comes back to cover the aggressive move. The inside move was never there, Ricciardo went for it anyway and braked late, locked up the front and hit Max.

I don't fault Max for blocking. I think Ricciardo's move was too aggressive for a teammate, but don't completely fault him either. This was a racing incident. When you give young men really fast cars and tell them to go battle each other, this will happen from time to time.

Wow, what a race. I suspect there will be quite a few differences with this race. I don't have time to explain all my ratings right now, but hopefully I'll have time later this week to come back and explain.


Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton - 7/10
Valtteri Bottas - 9/10

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel - 7/10
Kimi Raikkonen - 8/10

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo - 5/10
Max Verstappen - 7/10

Force India:
Sergio Perez - 10/10
Esteban Ocon - 3/10

Williams:
Lance Stroll - 9/10
Sergey Sirotkin - X/10

Renault:
Carlos Sainz - 9/10
Nico Hulkenberg - 7/10

Toro Rosso:
Pierre Gasly - 3/10
Brendon Hartley - 6/10

Haas:
Romain Grosjean - 5/10
Kevin Magnussen - 4/10

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso - 9/10
Stoffel Vandoorne - 7/10

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson - 5/10
Charles Leclerc - 10/10

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton - 4/10
Valtteri Bottas - 8/10

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel - 7/10
Kimi Raikkonen - 7/10

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo - 10/10
Max Verstappen - 4/10

Force India:
Sergio Perez - 6/10
Esteban Ocon - 6/10

Williams:
Lance Stroll - 7/10
Sergey Sirotkin - 7/10

Renault:
Carlos Sainz - 7/10
Nico Hulkenberg - 9/10

Toro Rosso: Initially, I had both drivers rated lower, however I've read that the collision was cause by a miscommunication. Hartley was supposed to let Gasly pass but didn't see him. Since the collision ruined both their races, they're just going to get a 5.
Pierre Gasly - 5/10
Brendon Hartley - 5/10

Haas:
Romain Grosjean - 4/10
Kevin Magnussen - 7/10

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso - 8/10
Stoffel Vandoorne - 5/10

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson - 5/10
Charles Leclerc - 3/10

The driver with the biggest ratings difference is currently Lewis Hamilton. I average 8.0, after having rated him 8 in race 1 but 8 in race 2. M4A1 has put Lewis down for a 5.5, which is a 2.5 difference in rating.

That's because he has been average in my opinion. The Mercedes is the fastest car, but he doesn't seem very motivated to drive it to its potential.

I have the same reasoning for not being too tough on the Williams and Sauber drivers. I don't realistically think the car can do much better, even with a top tier driver.

I will probably do most of the races I watch, but once the European season starts and the races are at 7:00am, I tend to miss some (or most) of them.

ESPN ran the entire race this weekend without commercials too, so I actually saw the entire race.

ESPN has said that the rest of the races this season will be commercial free.

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton - 5/10
Valtteri Bottas - 7/10

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel - 9/10
Kimi Raikkonen - 7/10

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo - X/10
Max Verstappen - X/10

Force India:
Sergio Perez - 6/10
Esteban Ocon - 8/10

Williams:
Lance Stroll - 4/10
Sergey Sirotkin - 4/10

Renault:
Carlos Sainz - 6/10
Nico Hulkenberg - 8/10

Toro Rosso:
Pierre Gasly - 10/10
Brendon Hartley - 6/10

Haas:
Romain Grosjean - 4/10
Kevin Magnussen - 9/10

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso - 9/10
Stoffel Vandoorne - 7/10

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson - 10/10
Charles Leclerc - 6/10

Feel free to change it to an X if you want. If drivers rate too short time to perform anything, I usually don't rate him because I want to find an average of their actual drives!

M4A1, let me know if I should translate your 5s to X or if you wish to keep them as 5

I edited my post and changed some of my ratings after reading more about the race. I agree, no score for an early mechanical DNF is a more accurate result.

I'm not sure how you want us to rate drivers who didnt get a decent chance to drive due to mechanical failure (Sirotkin).  I based my rankings with 5/10 being average, more points for a good performance, and fewer points for under performing.


Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton - 6/10 (Good first half, but was unprepared to fight Vettel and ended up making mistakes, even with the best car on the grid. Maybe should avoid snide comments in the press conference before the race?)
Valtteri Bottas - 5/10 (Average drive)

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel - 8/10 (Sometimes lucky is better than good, but keeping a Mercedes behind you is pretty good as well)
Kimi Raikkonen - 8/10 (Great qual, great race)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo - 8/10 (Great race after receiving a BS penalty)
Max Verstappen - 4/10 (Not his best day...)

Force India:
Sergio Perez - 7/10 (I feel like both FI drivers did well, but their car is really lacking)
Esteban Ocon - 6/10

Williams:
Lance Stroll - 5/10 (I didn't see much of the Williams, but I don't know what to expect of them. Finishing the race seems to the first expectation, getting into the points would be excellent)
Sergey Sirotkin - X/10 (Mechanical failure)

Renault:
Carlos Sainz - 5/10 (Would be higher if not for losing it under pressure from Alonso and finishing behind Stoffel)
Nico Hulkenberg - 7/10 (Great drive, everything I'd expect from Renault)

Toro Rosso:
Pierre Gasly - X/10 (Got Honda'd)
Brendon Hartley - 5/10 (He finished the race, can't expect too much from a newer driver in a back marker)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean - 6/10 (Good drive, sad result)
Kevin Magnussen - 8/10 (Magnussen was outstanding, unfortunately we didn't get to see him finish)

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso - 10/10 (Everything you'd expect in a driver, Fernando had today. Amazing result)
Stoffel Vandoorne - 7/10 (A good result)

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson - X/10 (mechanic failure)
Charles Leclerc - 8/10 (Great result for a new driver in the slowest car)

Okay I?m in. This is a good way to analyze drivers you might not notice during a race otherwise.