2018 Season - Rate the Drivers

[Penfold]

And here they are:

Austria - Unexpectedly exciting.  All hail the vagaries of modern technology.

Merc:
Hammy - 6 - Missed out on pole, jumped Valerie at start, didn't pit under VSC (his responsibility & the team's), shredded tyres during second stint.
Val - 7 - Got pole, lost positions at start, quickly made back some positions, car died.

Ferrari:
Seb - 7 - Silly penalty in qualifying but drove well enough in race.
Kimi - 7 - No penalty in qualifying and drove well enough in race.

Red Bull
The Pie Man - 5 - Destroyed his softs in 20 laps flat.
Max - 10 - Given team-mates tyre woes this was an impressive display of fast but considered driving.  Also bested Dan in quali and made a nice (almost clean) move on Kimi in the race.

Force India:
Perez - 7 - Healthy points haul for FI thanks to retirements.  Didn't reach Q2 but only just off Ocon in race.
Ocon - 8 - Marginally the better performer across the weekend.

Williams
Stroller - 5 - Hard to score as car is in a league of its own - unfortunately a lower league than the others.
Sirotkin - 5 - Seemed okay compared to Stroll.  How else can we judge their pace except off each other?

Renault:
Sainz - 4 - Consistently faster than Hulk in practice & quali, was then awful in the race.  Zero points despite several top cars dropping out.
Hulk - 6 - Tough to score off so few laps.  Don't think I can go higher than a six.

Toro Rosso:
Greasy Peril - 6 - Won the qualifying battle by a margin.  Not enough tyre left to hold off Alonso & the Saubers.
J.R. - 5 - Lost the qualifying battle.  Think he was running behind Gasly before retirement.

Haas:
Big Jean - 9 - Great on Saturday & Sunday, chuck in an overtake or pressure from behind and it'd be a ten.
Son of Magnus - 8 - Strong but just off Grosjean, hence one less point.

McLaren:
Aslan - 9 - Went easy on tyres early on which gave the opportunity of points, grabbed them with both hands.  A ten if not for damaging car in Q3 and thus starting from pit lane.
Van Door - 4 - Not miles off Alonso in qualifying but made up for that aberration on Sunday.

Sauber:
Chrill's mate Marcus - 8 - Great first stint on the softs.  In fact, if not for his lamentable performance on Saturday he may well have bagged nine points.
'It is I' - 8 - Continues to impress.  Blistering over the single lap and solid in the race.

[Chrill]

Thank you, mister Pen.

[Chrill]

Who ruled Britannia? Well, let's find out..

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton - 6/10 (He can drive for sure, but he has a 2-second advantage to the guys he passed. He also lost the start to put himself in a position where Kimi could hit him. Not a great race, although did hang on to second when Bottas failed to keep his equally old tyres alive. Deducting one point for his childish tantrums and post-race excuses)
Valtteri Bottas - 6/10 (He was ahead at the end through merely keeping out of everyone's way. Defended valiantly for a while before dropping down the order having destroyed his tyres. Mediocre at best)

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel - 10/10 (Neck issue? No issue. Won the start and never looked back. Had to fight for the win because of the Safety Car, so he did. Neat stuff on a supposed Mercedes track)
Kimi Raikkonen - 7/10 (Smacked right into Lewis Hamilton, and then mimicked his return up the field after pitting for his 10 second penalty. Didn't have what it took to pass the Brit again near the end)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo - 7/10 (Red Bull raced in no man's land this weekend. Nowhere near fast enough to challenge the top two teams but way ahead of the rest. Made for a dull race and a P5 finish)
Max Verstappen - 7/10 (Like his mate, but DNFing from in front of him)

Force India:
Sergio Perez - 6/10 (Made a silly error at the start but fought back to claim a final point after Gasly was demoted for passing the Sergio)
Esteban Ocon - 8/10 (Within a second of taking "Best of the rest" honors this weekend. Way more impressive than that team mate of his)

Williams:
Lance Stroll - X/10 (Watching these two languish around at the back is no fun. This team deserves more. Could do nothing, simply didn't have the car. So unremarkable I cannot possibly rate them)
Sergey Sirotkin - X/10 (Watching these two languish around at the back is no fun. This team deserves more. Could do nothing, simply didn't have the car. So unremarkable I cannot possibly rate them)

Renault:
Carlos Sainz Jr - 7/10 (Clean getaway saw him running in the points immediately despite starting 16th. Then had some bad luck with pit stops and safety cars before trying to overtake that crazy French guy Rome Man. It wasn't to be)
Nico Hulkenberg - 9/10 (The Renault had a clear power deficit here. Did it bother the Hulk? Nah. Best of the rest. Sure, lost 2 seconds per lap to the top 6 after the safety car but still held on for P7. Neat)

Toro Rosso:
Pierre Gasly - 8/10 (The Honda is weak. Gasly is not. Strong drive. Was on for P10 but made the move stick a bit too aggressively. Could just as well have been in the points)
Brendon Hartley - X/10 (No race for him)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean - 4/10 (Touching his team mate at the start, then pitching Sainz after the safety car. Messy race. My fault, he was my weekly)
Kevin Magnussen - 6/10 (Not quite as messy, but honestly should have finished in P7 here. P9 is, in that regard, a failure)

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso - 8/10 (Considering where McLaren currently qualify, Alonso continuing to score is nothing short of remarkable. Some decent racecraft saw him finish ahead of Magnussen. Is he really done with F1 after this season? I hope not)
Stoffel Vandoorne - 4/10 (Keeps being distanced by Alonso. No wonder, considering who Alonso is, but still the gap is too big. Arguably the biggest gap to a team mate over the course of 2018 so far. He has lost ALL qualis to Alonso.

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson - 6/10 (Crashed after doing a Grosjean (miss the DRS button due to bumps) but was on course for points. Clumsy way to go)
Charles Leclerc - 7/10 (DNF after some sort of pit stop error. Did they fail to attach a tyre? Possibly, I never quite saw what happened. Was on course for points, as is usual for him)

[Chrill]

guuuuuuuuyyyyyysss. Nobody is rating anymore. We needs you.

[Penfold]

Later today, that's when I've been planning to do my scores all along.  I absolutely did not completely forget that I hadn't rated Silverstone....

[Penfold]

Grand Bretagne:

Merc:
Hammy - 7 - Good effort for pole ruined by a poor start.  Lots of DRS passes through the field but ultimately lucky that second safety car saved him from attack by Kimi.
Val - 6 - Off Hammy in quali but kept it clean in race; should've been called in for tyres during safety car period to safeguard second place.

Ferrari:
Seb - 9 - Perfect race but didn't have to fight for win with his main competitor.
Kimi - 7 - Took out (somewhat) Seb's main competitor... racing incident but surely still worth a congratulatory slap on the back from Ferrari.  Seemed genuinely fast all weekend.

Red Bull
The Pie Man - 7 - Like that other chap said, Red Bull competing with themselves this time.
Max - 7 - Was edging Dan for fifth before yet another technical issue.

Force India:
Perez - 6 - Snatched a solitary point.
Ocon - 8 - Bagged a healthy six.

Williams
Stroller - 5 - Hard to score as car is in a league of its own - unfortunately a lower league than the others.
Sirotkin - 5 - Seemed okay compared to Stroll.  How else can we judge their pace except off each other?

Renault:
Sainz - 6 - Off Hulk's pace and perhaps not the smartest place to try and pass the accident prone Grosjean.
Hulk - 8 - More helpful points for Renault.

Toro Rosso:
Greasy Peril - 7 - Seemed like a decent effort.  I didn't pay him that much attention.
J.R. - X - Rod Stewart (among others) once sang: "Some guys have all the luck".  Sadly the next line: "Some guys have all the pain", is far more apt for Brendon.

Haas:
Big Jean - 4 - Lost control of car and collected Sainz.  More points lost.
Son of Magnus - 6 - Haas machinery was best of the rest this weekend, the drivers were not.

McLaren:
Aslan - 8 - Keeps on bringing home the bacon (points) despite limitations of car; if only they could qualify in the top ten he'd be racing with guys like Hulk.
Van Door - 3 - Almost one whole second off Alonso in quali.  Finished ahead of only Gasly (courtesy of his time penalty), and the two Williams (carrying a massive car penalty)....

Sauber:
Chrill's mate Marcus - 5 - My pick.  Could've scored but fancied trying a high speed crash instead.
'It is I' - 8 - Deprived of points by pit lane error (loose wheel).  Well clear of Eric's son in quali.

[Chrill]

Let us rate some more. Germany, for example.

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton - 8/10 (I hear the word masterclass thrown around. Fact is, he won from P14 because he got lucky with the safety car but then again, he WON FROM P14. He made his strategy work by running really far on softs, that was impressive and warrants 8 out of 10)
Valtteri Bottas - 8/10 (The better Mercedes at the end but told to back down. Very sad to see)

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel - 7/10 (You binned it. Before that, pure domination. Then you binned it)
Kimi Raikkonen - 7/10 (Could not match Mercedes or his team mate. So yeah, here he is)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo - 7/10 (Did what he could, which wasn't much. Then retired)
Max Verstappen - 6/10 (I'm sure he was in the race. It's just, Red Bull was far slower than the top two here. Could not challenge them. No man's land)

Force India:
Sergio Perez - 8/10 (Hunted for "best of rest" honors, ended up P7. Solid)
Esteban Ocon - 8/10 (Finished one second behind his team mate after starting further down. Some neat defensive driving here too. Good!)

Williams:
Lance Stroll - 4/10 (Distanced by his Russian team mate here. I'm surprised)
Sergey Sirotkin - 7/10 (Retired after running surprisingly far up the grid. I hope this is the change of form Williams have been searching for)

Renault:
Carlos Sainz Jr - 6/10 (Rather messy race, he was one of those who went for inters. Also, overtook Ericsson behind the Safety Car which was just absurd. He straight out passed him on a straight. Penalised for that)
Nico Hulkenberg - 10/10 (P5 in a Renault at a power circuit. Best of the rest was not on the table but he made it happen anyway. Wow. Great driving here)

Toro Rosso:
Pierre Gasly - 4/10 (Pitted for full wets. Sure, probably the team had to gamble but it was an absurd call which relegated him to the rear)
Brendon Hartley - 7/10 (Hey look at you, scoring points in a messy race. Great!)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean - 8/10 (The Haas qualifies better than it races, but Grosjean fought for his P6 finish by coming through the pack on fresh rubber near the end. Great end to a race)
Kevin Magnussen - 5/10 (Like a couple others, he made poor decisions when the rain came down. Shoved him out of the points)

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso - 6/10 (For once he seemed rather uninspired, languishing near the bottom of the points and pulling in with two laps to go)
Stoffel Vandoorne - 7/10 (Based on what Alonso said, that Vandoorne has less downforce and McLaren cannot explain why, I guess this drive was good)

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson - 8/10 (Ran a long first stint on softs, then a really long stint on ultras. Was so fast on ultras, in fact, that Hamilton made the same call two laps later. I guess Ericsson helped Hamilton win this. Two points in the bag)
Charles Leclerc - 6/10 (Sorry Leclerc. This was your first dance with rain in F1 and you lost the battle. Poor call to pit, poor timing, and then a few spins in the wet. Not a very strong race)

Driver of the race? Hulkenberg, honorable mentions to Grosjean, Perez, and Hamilton.

[Penfold]

Germany - None of my inane ramblings just the cold, hard numbers.

Merc:
Hammy - 8
Val - 7

Ferrari:
Seb - 6
Kimi - 7

Red Bull
The Pie Man - X
Max - 7

Force India:
Perez - 8
Ocon - 7

Williams
Stroller - 4
Sirotkin - 7

Renault:
Sainz - 5
Hulk - 9

Toro Rosso:
Greasy Peril - 5
J.R. - 7

Haas:
Big Jean - 8
Son of Magnus - 6

McLaren:
Aslan - 6
Van Door - 6

Sauber:
Chrill's mate Marcus - 8
'It is I' - 5

[Chrill]

Right, yes, but it's Hungary now.

[Penfold]

Then you'd better feed it.

[Chrill]

And thus begins my Hungary rating spree

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton - 9/10 (Really clean, grabbed pole position in the rain and never had to look back in the race. Dominant. Which is absurd, seeing how Mercedes definitely lacked pace in free practice)
Valtteri Bottas - 7/10 (As always, the 'wing man' had his strategy compromised to favour Lewis Hamilton. Did what he could, fought back hard and ended up slamming into Ricciardo because his front wing had literally no effect)

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel - 8/10 (Beat Kimi at the start despite harder tyres. Ran a long final stint on ultras)
Kimi Raikkonen - 6/10 (Softer tyres so that he could challenge Mercedes at the start. Couldn't. Mediocre showing)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo - 8/10 (Decent comeback, but in all honesty a Red Bull should pass "the rest" to join the top two teams no matter where they start)
Max Verstappen - 7/10 (Ran OK before the engine cut out. Yay for Renualt...)

Force India:
Sergio Perez - 5/10 (Messy race, never close to points)
Esteban Ocon - 6/10 (Like his team mate, but not as bad)

Williams:
Lance Stroll - 4/10 (Desperately slow throughout the race)
Sergey Sirotkin - 6/10 (At least ran ahead of Vandoorne and Ericsson for a little while, but then Vandoorne found speed and Ericsson overtook him. Aaaand Williams is dead last again)

Renault:
Carlos Sainz Jr - 7/10 (Solid points haul, but helped massively by a great qualifying. Should arguably have challenged Gasly for "best of the rest" but instead dropped back)
Nico Hulkenberg - 5/10 (I don't know if he got the strategy wrong or what happened, but P12 is not good enough)

Toro Rosso:
Pierre Gasly - 9/10 (Started 6th, finished sixth. Ricciardo passed him, but he passed Sainz. Really impressive, really strong)
Brendon Hartley - 7/10 (Toro Rosso messed his race up. Was more or less matching Gasly, yet in the end finished 5 spots behind him. Pitted too early, went for mediums, and got caught in traffic)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean - 6/10 (Well points at least, so we cannot complain too much. Still, dropped back compared to where he started from)
Kevin Magnussen - 8/10 (Still reliably the faster Haas driver, not much else to say. Managed to pass a couple guys on his way to P7)

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso - 8/10 (I don't know how he does it, but he does it. Points all the time despite not driving a top 10 car)
Stoffel Vandoorne - 8/10 (New chassis finally gave him a decent weekend. Yes, he's 12-0 down on Alonso on Saturdays, but ran right behind him throughout the race before retiring with a gearbox issue or whatever that was)

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson - 6/10 (Shame! He outqualified Leclerc thanks to tricky conditions, but then he bumped into Ricciardo and his race was over after turn 1)
Charles Leclerc - X/10 (Went out in Q1 for the first time in a long while, and then retired the car after lap 1 having been sandwiched by the Force Indias. Not his weekend)

[Penfold]

Hungary:

Merc:
Hammy - 9 - Only had to keep it clean in the race but good pole lap bumps him to a nine.
Val - 6 - Sacrificed (as at Silverstone) for Hammy's benefit.  Drove well until his tyres were knackered and he failed to back out when being passed by Seb & Dan - had Grosjean made the same errors everyone would've been jumping up and down calling him a numpty.

Ferrari:
Seb - 8 - Thought at the start they should've stuck him on ultras for a better shot of passing Bottas down into turn one; instead he was marooned behind the Finn and too far back to ever challenge Lewis.
Kimi - 7 - Pitted once more than Bottas and still caught him with laps to spare - shows how terrible Merc's strategy was for their number two.

Red Bull
The Pie Man - 9 - Got screwed in quali by Stroll's crash but drove well through the field - at least DRS at Hungary doesn't make it insanely easy for an under-powered Red Bull.
Max - X - Too few laps.

Force India:
Perez - 5 - Sent out too early in qualifying and ran out of rubber as track conditions improved.
Ocon - 6 - Same as above but performed marginally better.

Williams
Stroller - 4 - Quicker in quali but then crashed it, meaning old-spec front wing and pit lane start.
Sirotkin - 5 - Slower in quali but at least he didn't crash... that's the most positive comment I can make.

Renault:
Sainz - 6 - Ninth from P5 on the grid is not exactly stunning - would've been tenth had Max finished.
Hulk - 4 - Twelfth from P13 on the grid is not exactly stunning - gained one place courtesy of Max's DNF.

Toro Rosso:
Greasy Peril - 10 - Clearly the car worked well round here (and in the wet) but what a drive for a rookie.
J.R. -  8 - Good quali & drive undermined by team tactics.

Haas:
Big Jean - 6 - Started and finished tenth.  Okay.
Son of Magnus - 8 - Moved up the field.  Better than okay.

McLaren:
Aslan - 8 - Good strategy by McLaren vaulted them up the field - including ahead of a clearly irritated Grosjean - but still required a classy drive to capitalise.
Van Door - 7 - Still over half a second off Alonso in Q1 but caught him in race and stayed there until his premature end.

Sauber:
Chrill's mate Marcus - 5 - Clipped Dan at turn one then some other things happened... not sure what as I didn't spot him after that (race in highlights format doesn't help with keeping track of the lower order).
'It is I' - X - Squished by the Force Indias.

[Chrill]

Thank you, I appreciate your swift ratings. I shall update the document in due time.

[Penfold]

Definitely easier to do these ratings a day or two after a race rather than a week (or more!) after the affair... who would've thought it. 

[Chrill]

Belgium? Belgium.

Mercedes:
Lewis Hamilton - 6/10 (Masterclass in qualifying, extremely mediocre in the race. Had nothing on the Ferrari, and frankly struggled to keep the Racing Point Force India at bay at the start)
Valtteri Bottas - 8/10 (Made up decent ground from his lowly starting position, but with this power advantage he should have been closer to Verstappen)

Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel - 9/10 (It's fair to argue Ferrari has a faster car right now. With that in mind, passing Hamilton for the lead and keeping Ocon behind is worthy of no more than 9. Strong drive, controlling, exactly what he should have delivered both in Hungary and Germany)
Kimi Raikkonen - X/10 (Car was damaged by Ricciardo after a flying Alonso tapped the rear of the Red Bull)

Red Bull:
Daniel Ricciardo - X/10 (Cannot really be blamed for the early retirement. That car was in ruins courtesy of the flying Spaniardman)
Max Verstappen - 8/10 (Passed the Force Indias, kept his distance to Bottas, and secured a reasonable P3)

Force India:
Sergio Perez - 8/10 (Great quali in the wet, then secured best of the rest honours ahead of his team mate. Impressive for this "new" team)
Esteban Ocon - 8/10 (Like his friend Sergio, but behind him despite starting in front. Had an opportunity to take the lead at the start, but wisely backed out. That left him behind Perez too)

Williams:
Lance Stroll - 6/10 (The car looked better than it has done for a while now, enough to finish ahead of Hartley and Vandoorne at least. Acceptable)
Sergey Sirotkin - 7/10 (Briefly ran in the points at the start but dropped back. Still, he continuously beats his more experienced team mate. Team mate in Monza too? Maybe)

Renault:
Carlos Sainz Jr - 5/10 (Started at the back and had no part in the race for points. Very invisible)
Nico Hulkenberg - 2/10 (Appalling misjudgement of his braking points, took out a quarter of the grid in one go. Very Grosjeanesque, and a harsh 10 place demotion on Monza's grid)

Toro Rosso:
Pierre Gasly - 7/10 (Started P10, finished P9. That is after two of the drivers in front retired. In other words, he went backwards. Still, two points at Spa is decent for a Honda engine)
Brendon Hartley - 5/10 (Started alongside Gasly, finished far back. Not good enough)

Haas:
Romain Grosjean - 7/10 (More or less held his ground in this race, keeping his perhaps faster team mate behind so that's good. Solid points haul)
Kevin Magnussen - 7/10 (Started further back than his team mate, made it up to him in the race but never managed to pass him. Like RoGro, a solid points haul)

McLaren:
Fernando Alonso - X/10 (Violated from behind by the Hulk. Heh.)
Stoffel Vandoorne - 4/10 (Dead last, as usual. He's just not good enough this season)

Sauber:
Marcus Ericsson - 8/10 (3 points finishes in 5 races, despite getting involved in a first corner shunt at Hungary. Impressive run of form, and is looking closer to Leclerc in qualifying too. I really hope he gets to complete the season at Sauber, because his form looks to be steadily improving)
Charles Leclerc - X/10 (Violated from above by Alonso, courtesy of the Hulk. Oh Lord)