2021 Season - Rate the Drivers

[Penfold]

Apologies Chrill, mine will be along tomorrow.

Still not sure how to rate Russell...

Oh yeah, Giovinazzi had to pit to have debris removed from his... sidepods, or front wing, I've forgotten already! Or was it just that he had a slow stop because they had to remove debris at the same time, hmm, have to go and check.

Visor tear-off in rear brake duct meant he pitted 5 laps after the red flag period ended, think he was one place ahead of Kimi before that.

[Penfold]

Kimi Räikkönen - 8/10 (Scored solid points! Oh no, they got rid of them. Absurdly harsh penalty, considering he did NOT do what Perez was penalised for but got penalised for NOT doing it. I am confused. Kimi went wide, did not regain his position, was penalised. Perez went wide, regained his position, was penalised. Explain it to me like I'm 5 years old, please)

I believe that under a safety car you're not allowed to regain your position, whereas in the run up to a race re-start one must regain any places lost.  I mean, why wouldn't it be two different rules....

Merc:
Hammy - 7 - Damaged his wing on lap 1 and was massively, massively, massively lucky with the red flag - a lap down at that point so had completely screwed his race with the off.  Still, recovered well as one would expect
Val - 3 - Slow in qualifying, even worse in the race

Red Bull:
Surger - 4 - Been around long enough to know that you don't overtake behind a safety car, he also generally struggled in the wet
Max - 9 - Point off for scrappy qualifying effort

McLaren:
Ricky Hairdo - 6
Chuck Norris - 10 - Fortunately made a little slip in qualifying otherwise I would've wanted to give him an eleven

A team called Aston Martin:
My Fault Again - 5
Speedy Stroller - 8

Alpine:
Alonso - 5
OffOn - 6

Ferrari:
'It is I' - 8
Rally Guy's Son - 7 - Slithered off the track a couple of times, then got his sensible head on

Boris Johnson (aka Alpha Tory):
Greasy Peril - 8 - Terrible choice of tyres at start, but strong second half
Tsunoda - 4

Alfauber:
Kimi - 8 - Stupid race re-start rule being different to a safety car period....
Adam Ant - 7 - Ran one place behind Kimi until a stray visor tear-off lodged in a rear brake duct and forced an extra stop

Haas:
Massivespin - 5
Mickey Boy - 6

Williams:
Latifi - 1
Jack Russell - 4 - Racing incident with Bottas but still Russell's decision to open DRS and overtake on a wet, narrow, and gently curving section of track.

[Chrill]

Thaaanks.

We've got some stats now. Slightly skewed to race 1, since we had 4 ratings there vs 2 ratings in race 2, but still.

Drivers:
1. Sir Lewis Hamilton (9.167)
2. Max Verstappen (8.833)
3. Lando Norris (8.833)

Norris would be P1 if we only counted Penfold and I, but Lewis' had such a strong race in Bahrain that he maintains top status.

Teams:
1. Red Bull Racing Honda (8.833 and 7.333 ---> 8.313)
2. Scuderia Mission Winnow Ferrari (8.333 and 7.667 ---> 8.000)
3. McLaren F1 Team (8.833 and 6.833 ---> 7.750

The most improved driver rating compared to 2020:
1. Charles Leclerc (+1.793)
2. Lando Norris (+1.508)
3. Max Verstappen (+1.227)

----

Now, for the bad performances!

Worst Drivers:
1. Nikita Mazepin (1.833)
2. Sebastian Vettel (3.667)
3. Nicholas Latifi (4.500)

Worst Teams:
1. Uralkali Haas F1 Team (1.833 and 5.833 ---> 3.563)
2. Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team (3.667 and 7.167 ---> 5.250)
3. Alpine F1 Team (5.500 and 6.833 ---> 6.125)

The least improved driver rating compared to 2020:
1. Sebastian Vettel (-1.883)
2. Valtteri Bottas (-1.008)
3. Pierre Gasly (-0.911)

---

All them stats here:
MF1 Driver Ratings 2021

If Matty and euro wants to rate Imola, please feel free. I'd be happy to add those numbers to our stats.

[Penfold]

I've just taken a point off Lewis... sorry!

Oh, and I bumped Bottas up to a 3...

That's it, no more changes from me!

[Chrill]

That's very disappointing of you. Shame.

It does not drop Hamilton down to 2nd though. At 9.000, he retains the top spot.

[eurobrun]

Is it too late for me (whilst watching Portugal qualifying) to give my ratings for Imola? 

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team:
Lewis Hamilton - 7/10
Valtteri Bottas - 3/10

Red Bull Racing Honda:
Sergio Pérez - 6/10
Max Verstappen - 10/10

McLaren F1 Team:
Daniel Ricciardo - 6/10
Lando Norris - 10/10

Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team:
Sebastian Vettel - 4/10
Lance Stroll - 6710

Alpine F1 Team:
Fernando Alonso - 5/10
Esteban Ocon - 6/10

Scuderia Mission Winnow Ferrari:
Charles Leclerc - 8/10
Carlos Sainz Jr. - 7/10

Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda:
Pierre Gasly - 7/10
Yuki Tsunoda - 2/10

Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen:
Kimi Räikkönen - 7/10
Antonio Giovinazzi - 5/10

Haas F1 Team:
Nikita Mazepin - 4/10
Mick Schumacher - 5/10

Williams Racing:
Nicholas Latifi - 2/10
George Russell - 7/10

I'll try do Portugal scores on Monday this time!

[Penfold]

I often don't get my scores done until after the subsequent race, especially with back-to-back events. At the very least I like to wait until Chrill has given me a hurry up, it's a sort of tradition....

[Chrill]

Thanks eurobrun for posting. You're never too late, no cutoffs here. Although it is tradition that Penfold is lazy, you do not need join him.

I'll get my Portuguese ratings in shortly.

[Chrill]

Portugal! Portimao!




Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team:
Lewis Hamilton - 9/10 Hard to fault him this season so far. P2 on the grid, P2 into turn 1, P3 at the restart, but he overtakes both of them to find the victory in the end. Really an inspired Lewis, who does seem to actually thrive under the pressure from Red Bull. Guess he didn't just say it when he asked for competition, he meant it.
Valtteri Bottas - 7/10 Definitely an improvement, including some clever usage of that little hill at the beginning of the start/finish straight to keep in front at the SC restart. Still, didn't have the pace to beat Hamilton or Verstappen.

Red Bull Racing Honda:
Sergio Pérez - 7/10 Sacrificed his strategy to help Verstappen close in on Hamilton, but still had the pace to keep ahead of Norris. Neat, albeit a full stop behind the top 3 thanks to that strategy. Got DOTD by F1 fans and I don't agree with that.
Max Verstappen - 8/10 Lacked the ice in his veins to actually beat Hamilton. I still think Red Bull had the faster car on all 3 venues this season.

McLaren F1 Team:
Daniel Ricciardo - 7/10 Strong drive to score two points when he started 16th, but he had the strategy to finish 7th to be honest.
Lando Norris - 9/10 Best of the rest yet again, sits proudly in P3 in the Drivers Standings. Really quite an impressive season so far.

Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team:
Sebastian Vettel - 6/10 Also a step up, finding his way into Q3. Did not convert that into points, but battled nicely with his team mate and came out on top in that battle.
Lance Stroll - 6/10 P17 to P14 isn't awful, but it's not all that good is it. Was ahead of Vettel at one point but finished behind.

Alpine F1 Team:
Fernando Alonso - 9/10 Tempted to go for a 10, but he probably needed to take down Ocon for that. Scored some solid points for Alpine from his 13th slot on the grid, including some good battling with Ricciardo.
Esteban Ocon - 8/10 I mean yeah, he went back in terms of his starting position, but he was so far down at one point and fought his way back so he deserves a fairly decent score. Kept Alonso behind him too, which I didn't expect.

Scuderia Mission Winnow Ferrari:
Charles Leclerc - 8/10 Mediums to Hards probably wasn't the superior strategy today, but Leclerc made it work. The only one even close to Norris in the midfield here.
Carlos Sainz Jr. - 6/10 Was pitted too soon, and his mediums just died. Should have run a longer first stint and then mirrored Leclerc with the hards, would have finished in the top 8 then.

Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda:
Pierre Gasly - 7/10 A point is a point is a point. Grabbed it from Sainz near the end, so a solid day. Still, the AlphaTauri promises more than it delivers so far this season.
Yuki Tsunoda - 5/10 A very quiet race indeed, at one point tripping around a bit in front of Bottas. Not a stunning performance, even by rookie measures.

Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen:
Kimi Räikkönen - 1/10 I'm really unsure how to call that incident with Giovinazzi. May revisit this grade if you all have a stronger opinion. EDIT: He just wasn't paying attention.
Antonio Giovinazzi - 5/10 This car looks capable of points this year, it really does. So starting 12th, one could assume Giovinazzi was in a position to find them. But no. Quiet race, barely saw him except when he collided with the Iceman.

Uralkali Haas F1 Team:
Nikita Mazepin - 3/10 I mean yeah, he got penalised for blocking the race leader at one point so that's embarassing. And yeah, he was a full MINUTE behind his equally inexperienced rookie teammate, but still. I did not see him spin.
Mick Schumacher - 8/10 He not only battled strongly with Latifi, he got past him when Latifi stressed himself into making a mistake. Really a very solid drive in a really poor car. Thrilled to see the Schumacher name overtaking somebody, sure to be a rare sight this season.

Williams Racing:
Nicholas Latifi - 4/10 Ran ahead of Russell for a bit, but in the end lost out to a Haas.
George Russell - 5/10 Starting P11, this surely was the best opportunity for points Williams have had in a long while. So what did Russell do? Well, he cemented the image of being Mr. Saturday.


My driver of the day? Oh, that's Alonso, with honorable mentions to Hamilton, and Norris.

[Chrill]

It's a short week until Spain, so please join me early Penfold and eurobrun!

[eurobrun]

Portugal scores

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team:
Lewis Hamilton - 9/10
Valtteri Bottas - 7/10

Red Bull Racing Honda:
Sergio Pérez - 7/10
Max Verstappen - 9/10

McLaren F1 Team:
Daniel Ricciardo - 7/10
Lando Norris - 10/10

Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team:
Sebastian Vettel - 6/10
Lance Stroll - 6/10

Alpine F1 Team:
Fernando Alonso - 8/10
Esteban Ocon - 8/10

Scuderia Mission Winnow Ferrari:
Charles Leclerc - 8/10
Carlos Sainz Jr. - 6/10

Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda:
Pierre Gasly - 7/10
Yuki Tsunoda - 5/10

Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen:
Kimi Räikkönen - 0/10
Antonio Giovinazzi - 5/10

Haas F1 Team:
Nikita Mazepin - 2/10
Mick Schumacher - 6/10

Williams Racing:
Nicholas Latifi - 4/10
George Russell - 5/10

Race control - 4/10
Another weekend with three attempts to define track limits, plus 5 and a half laps behind the safety car was a poor do.

[Chrill]

Nice touch to rate Race Control! The track limits were clear to me, however. I disagree with the complaints from Red Bull, turn 14 was clearly going to be monitored in the race and this was announced well in advance.

[Penfold]

All corners should be monitored and the drivers should keep part of the car on the actual track!

Scores coming soon, possibly later today but if not then definitely tomorrow morn.  That's still pretty quick for me....

[Chrill]

All corners should be monitored and the drivers should keep part of the car on the actual track!

I still don't see why F1 can't just introduce mobile gravel traps. Remove a piece of the tarmac on the outside, fill that shit with gravel. Let cars run wide, and lose track time, and then by the end of the race remove that mobile gravel trap and refill it with whatever other racing classes need. F1 is big enough to adapt the tracks this way.

Tracks should, put simply, not be built in a way that you can earn time outside it. Any area where you can, you should be allowed to drive. That's as clear as it can ever be.

[Penfold]

Portugal:

Merc:
Hammy - 9
Val - 7

Red Bull:
Surger - 7
Max - 8

McLaren:
Ricky Hairdo - 7
Chuck Norris - 10

A team called Aston Martin:
My Fault Again - 7
Speedy Stroller - 6

Alpine:
Alonso - 7
OffOn - 8

Ferrari:
'It is I' - 7
Rally Guy's Son - 6

Boris Johnson (aka Alpha Tory):
Greasy Peril - 7
Tsunoda - 5

Alfauber:
Kimi - 0
Adam Ant - 6

Haas:
Massivespin - 3
Mickey Boy - 7

Williams:
Latifi - 4
Jack Russell - 6