2018 Season - Rate the Drivers

[Penfold]

Excitement has rather drained away.

Too bad for Kimi I didn't score USA as his performance was worthy of a ten.

[Chrill]

I shall rate Mexico.

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton - 5/10 (World champion. Didn't look like it, finishing over a minute behind the top two)
Valtteri Bottas - 4/10 (Lapped by Verstappen. That's all we need to say)

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel - 8/10 (Definitely hounded Verstappen and Ricciardo well from his P4 slot)
Kimi Raikkonen - 6/10 (Had nothing to bring to the table on Vettel or Verstappen, but way ahead of the Mercedes lads)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo - 8/10 (Poor start, strong race, guaranteed retirement. Poor kid can't catch a break, and it keeps being the Renault engine messing it up. Is he regretting his 2019 decision?)
Max Verstappen - 10/10 (Nobody stood a chance against Verstapperinho. Domination)

Force India:
Sergio Perez - 5/10 (Poor racecraft helping Vettel overtake Ricciardo, then lost out to Leclerc in a nice battle, then retired. Didn't miss him)
Esteban Ocon - 6/10 (Starting P11, nice fresh suitable rubber, then boom goes the front wing. Rough race, no points for the laddy)

Williams:
Lance Stroll - 6/10 (P12 at the flag, P17 on the grid. Not too shabby, and beat his mate Sergey)
Sergey Sirotkin - 5/10 (Like Stroll but one step further down)

Renault:
Carlos Sainz Jr - X/10 (He retired halfway through the race so there'll be enough to go on, but I can't remember how his race went. He passed Raikkonen at the start, I remember that, but that's about it)
Nico Hulkenberg - 9/10 (Very strong race, easily best of the rest. Ran a long second stint and kept Leclerc away from him)

Toro Rosso:
Pierre Gasly - 7/10 (Started at the back of the grid, fought his way into the points thanks to Ricciardo's retirement. Still, decent race to P11 before getting stuck there)
Brendon Hartley - 6/10 (Ran right with his team mate, but a 5-second penalty which he deserved pushed him back a bit. Still, did have a pace similar to Gasly)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean - 3/10 (Absolute travesty of a weekend. Horrid, dead last by far)
Kevin Magnussen - 5/10 (Like his team mate but not as dead last. Still nowhere near able to challenge anyone on the grid)

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso - X/10 (Early retirement. Feels like he's had it)
Stoffel Vandoorne - 9/10 (Hah! After securing a Formula E seat, this was a damn good race. Ran a very long second stint, like most in the points did, to score a solid P8. Nice stuff)

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson - 9/10 (His stint on ultras at the start was way too long because Sauber used him to push others back and assist Leclerc. Who cares, he scores two points anyway. Kept his tyres alive somehow)
Charles Leclerc - 9/10 (He finished ahead of Marcus, yet I rate his performance lower because of the tactics Marcus had to endure. He does get an extra point for his tussle with Perez which showed some mature racecraft belying his actual F1 experience)

Driver of the race? Verstappen, with a shoutout to Vandoorne.

[Penfold]

I may still score Mexico if I can remember enough of the race; doesn't help that it was only shown as extended highlights and that they didn't finish until about one in the morning....

[Chrill]

Also doesn't help you said that four days ago yet haven't returned to post actual ratings.

[Penfold]

Yeah, I think you can write off any chance of me scoring Mexico - as in the recent GP, rather than the country... not that I'm planning on giving Mexico the country a score out of ten.

[Chrill]

Why would you not score countries out of ten? Let's rate countries we've visited 1-10.

[Penfold]

Bernie decreed that countries be awarded either gold, silver, or bronze medals.

[Chrill]

Well, we made it an entire season without having to suffer with replacement drivers. Spectactular. Let us rate Abu Dhabi and I can wrap this season's stats up nicely:

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton - 8/10 (Qualifying masterclass, and a simple cruise home. Looked a bit threatened by Vettel for a while, but kept it cool)
Valtteri Bottas - 5/10 (When your team mate wins, you cannot be the last guy among the top 3 teams. It is not permitted)

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel - 8/10 (Finally a clean race without any mistakes. That's an unusual one. He'll feel the pressure from Leclerc going into 2019 for sure)
Kimi Raikkonen - 6/10 (Retired in what is his final Ferrari race. Sauber next, excited to see this old man continue)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo - 7/10 (If you start ahead of your team mate and get a better start, you must not finish behind him. That final stint never came alive)
Max Verstappen - 8/10 (Poor start, but made up for it with a great and controlled drive. I hope he can carry this more mature attitude into 2019, but we all know he can't)

Force India:
Sergio Perez - 8/10 (Poor qualifying, but made up for it in the race. Nearly had Leclerc too)
Esteban Ocon - 5/10 (Had a scrappy race and battled mostly with mediocre McLarens and Haas cars before retiring)

Williams:
Lance Stroll - 7/10 (Not too bad, really. From the very back of the grid, he passed his team mate and Vandoorne to come home P13. Solid, albeit not great)
Sergey Sirotkin - 4/10 (He had nothing on Stroll, and quite frankly I think he just wanted this race to be over)

Renault:
Carlos Sainz Jr - 10/10 (What a race from the Spaniard. Finished within half a minute of Bottas, and had almost the same space to Leclerc behind him. Found himself in no man's land, better than the best of the rest. Wow)
Nico Hulkenberg - X/10 (Well, at least Grosjean didn't really cause it as such. The Hulk turned in. A bit clumsy, but he thought Grosjean had backed off)

Toro Rosso:
Pierre Gasly - 7/10 (Wasn't really game on for points, but even getting to P11/P12 is solid with a Honda at Abu Dhabi. We'll see how this young boy deals with the other young boy at the rather inexperienced Red Bull team in 2019)
Brendon Hartley - 6/10 (Decent but not amazing in what may well be his final F1 race. I'd quite like Toro Rosso to keep him for 2019 and give him a proper old chance. I think the second half of 2018 was far better than the first half, and he may yet develop into a decent F1 racer)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean - 8/10 (Broke his car when the Hulk tried to dance, then pitted early and kept his cool to score two points. Impressive)
Kevin Magnussen - 6/10 (Did not crash during the first lap, but did end up behind Grosjean. He should have finished ahead)

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso - 5/10 (Ended up not bothering with track limits, so I'll deduct 1 point for that rather immature behaviour. 6/10 otherwise. Seems willing to return to F1 in the future, so may not be the last we see of him)
Stoffel Vandoorne - 5/10 (I sort of hope this is the last we see of him. Qualified behind his team mate on 21 out of 21 race weekends this year. That says it all. Nobody has achieved that since Piquet in 2008 when he raced against... well, Alonso)

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson - 5/10 (Like so many around him, this was not spectacular. And then he ground to a halt. Bummer. Looking forward to Indy in 2019)
Charles Leclerc - 8/10 (Showed once again why he's the Ferrari man in 2019, passing both Red Bulls and Kimi Raikkonen in the first few laps. Fell back to a less spectacular P7 in the end, but that was a great way to end his first season in F1)

[Penfold]

I'll do the old Abu Dhabi dance (scores) tomorrow. 

[Penfold]

Welcome to tomorrow.

Abu Dhabi:

Merc:
Hammy - 8 - He won it... on Saturday afternoon.
Val - 4 - Fairly awful.

Ferrari:
Seb - 7 - No crashes and a decent enough drive.
Kimi - 6 - Not really enough laps to score properly, but it's the season finale so everyone gets a number!

Red Bull
The Pie Man - 7 - Pleasant surprise that his car didn't die.
Max - 7 - One point deduction for his diving overtake on Ocon - forcing the other guy into taking evasive action does not count as a clean pass.

Force India/Stroll:
Perez - 7 - Not sure what happened in qualifying, but a strong showing come race day.
Ocon - 5 - All got a bit messy.

Williams
Stroller - 6 - One of his better showings and another strong first lap.
Sirotkin - 3 - Won't be missed.

Renault:
Rally Guy's Son - 9 - Excellent.  Fortunate to 'miss out' on reaching Q3, but took full advantage of tyre choice to bring it home in sixth.
Hulk - 3 - Locked up trying to pass Grosjean and then turned in on him, an amateur move for such an experienced guy.

Toro Rosso:
Greasy Peril - 6 - Going well enough until his Honda blew up.
J.R. - 5 - Also won't be missed, not that he's down at Sirotkin's level of talent, but has never shown anything to suggest he's F1 material.

Haas:
Big Jean - 7 - Early VSC pit-stop didn't do him any favours as time saved was more than lost in traffic.
Son of Magnus - 6 - He's just not as good as Romain.

McLaren:
Aslan - 5 - Track-cutting silliness.  Still, I will miss him from F1....
Van Door - 4 - ... and I'll miss u(sing your Toffee Van Door moniker).

Sauber:
Chrill's mate Marcus - 6 - Doing all right until car death.
'It is I' - 8 - Like Grosjean, I feel his early stop was a net loss due to sitting in traffic (mostly behind Alonso) for a great many laps.  Recovered for a quality seventh.

[Chrill]

Yes, Rally Jr did well in his Renault here, did he not? I'll crunch the numbers tomorrow and we shall then crown the CHAMPION OF 2018!!! wowowowowow

[Chrill]

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE A TABLE THAT I SINCERELY DISAGREE WITH BUT THAT'S BECAUSE WE SKIPPED RATINGS A LOT AT THE END. Still, here it is:

Code Select Expand


Pos Driver      Rating  Difference
1.  Alonso      7.811   Leader
2.  Vettel      7.619   +0.192
3.  Leclerc     7.421   +0.390
4.  Ricciardo   7.314   +0.497
5.  Hamilton    7.190   +0.620
6.  Raikkonen   6.946   +0.865
7.  Sainz, Jr.  6.854   +0.957
8.  Bottas      6.833   +0.978
9.  Perez       6.738   +1.073
10. Ocon        6.694   +1.116
11. Gasly       6.667   +1.144
12. Ericsson    6.641   +1.170
13. Hulkenberg  6.632   +1.179
14. Magnussen   6.262   +1.549
15. Verstappen  6.050   +1.761
16. Hartley     5.694   +2.116
17. Vandoorne   5.634   +2.177
18. Grosjean    5.350   +2.461
19. Stroll      5.293   +2.518
20. Sirotkin    5.200   +2.611


We overrate what happened in the first half of the season and underrate the second half. Hamilton is my number one, Vettel is behind him for sure. Verstappen also did far better than what his P15 suggests. However, even if we exclude M4A1 and Matt, Penny and I would only rate him 14th anyway.

I also think Bottas is rated too high, and Gasly too low. Other than, I'm onboard with this.

Team mate gaps: (better driver on the left)
1. Fernando Alonso vs. Stoffel Vandoorne, 2.177
2. Daniel Ricciardo vs. Max Verstappen, 1.264
3. Pierre Gasly vs. Brendon Hartley, 0.972
4. Kevin Magnussen vs. Romain Grosjean, 0.912
5. Charles Leclerc vs. Marcus Ericsson, 0.780
6. Sebastian Vettel vs. Kimi Raikkonen, 0.673
7. Lewis Hamilton vs. Valtteri Bottas, 0.357
8. Carlos Sainz vs. Nico Hulkenberg, 0.222
9. Lance Stroll vs. Sergey Sirotkin, 0.092
10. Sergio Perez vs. Esteban Ocon, 0.044

In other words, Alonso and Ricciardo soundly beat their team mates but the Williams and Force India battles were very close.

Since Matt rated so few events, he is also the one who most often rated a driver the highest. He did so in 9/20 drivers. M4A1 rated highest 5 times, I did so on 3 occasions and Penfold only once (Grosjean, 5.824). Both Penfold and I rated Hamilton at 7.353 in the end.

The biggest ratings gap is Sirotkin. I rated him 5.500, Matt rated him 2.500. That gives a gap of 3.000.

The smallest ratings gap is Ricciardo. I rated him 7.467, Matt rated him 7.000. That gives a gap of 0.467.

When looking at compiled ratings (all our ratings added together), several drivers scored perfect weekends, that is a 10 from all of us.

Twice:
Alonso: Australia, Azerbaijan
Vettel: Bahrain, Great Britain
Gasly: Bahrain, Hungary
Ricciardo: China, Monaco
Verstappen: Australia, Mexico (somewhat assisted by me being the only one voting in Mexico)

Once:
Ericsson: Bahrain
Perez: Azerbaijan
Leclerc: Azerbaijan
Hulkenberg: Germany

Continuing with the compiled ratings, those who did not score a 10 at least got a compiled 9 in all cases except Bottas and Sirotkin, both of whom had 8/10 as their best compiled score. Bottas achieved 8 in China, Azerbaijan, Spain, Canada, Germany, Italy. Sirotkin did so in Monaco and Singapore.

The driver with fewest ratings this season (and perhaps then the unluckiest driver) is a tie between both Toro Rosso boys. Even excluding the 3 races nobody rated (Russia, USA, Brazil), they got a score of X/10 on three separate occasions, meaning their season total over 21 races is only calculated on their performance in 15 of the races.

The race with fewest drivers rated is Belgium, where 4 drivers (Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Alonso, Leclerc) ended up getting no score. This is in part because of Hulkenberg who crashed into them and scored 1/10 that weekend. Had it not been for that weekend, the Hulk would have finished the season above Sainz in our standings.

As always, the total document is here.

[Penfold]

Yeah, we really screwed this one by getting lazy with the scoring.  We missed some stonking efforts by Hammy and Max (plus one for Kimi!), and also some very mediocre showings by Vettel and Bottas.

My unofficial top ten:

1. 'It is I'
2. Hammy
3. Alonso
4. Vettel
5. Ricciardo
6. Max
7. Sainz
8. Perez
9. Ocon
10. Gasly

Cheers for all your tabulations this year; I shall have a more thorough perusal of the document tomorrow.

[Chrill]

And my unofficial rankings of the year:

1. Hamilton
2. Alonso
3. Leclerc
4. Ricciardo
5. Vettel
6. Sainz
7. Raikkonen
8. Hulkenberg
9. Ocon
10. Verstappen
11. Ericsson
12. Gasly
13. Perez
14. Bottas
15. Magnussen
16. Hartley
17. Grosjean
18. Stroll
19. Vandoorne
20. Sirotkin

[Penfold]

So that's an "I'll see your ten, and raise you ten more" kind of list.  Fine.  If that's the way you want it....

11. Kimi
12. Hulk
13. Valerie
14. Your Mate
15. Big Jean
16. Magnussen
17. JR Hartley
18. Sirotkin
19. Stroller
20. Van Door