2019 Season - Rate the Drivers

[Penfold]

We also forgot to do Russia, and by now that race has been scrubbed from the temporary file sub-section of my F1 memory bank, with only a very limited highlights package uploaded into the long-term filing section.

I'll do my Mexico scores sometime this week.

[Chrill]

There was a Russian race? Huh, must have been a disappointing one. As they usually are. Oh wait, yes, Vettel's car broke down and Mercedes won. As they usually do.

[Penfold]

"Vettel's car broke down and Mercedes won." This seems an accurate summation - I certainly don't remember anything else from the race.

Scores later today?  Possibly.

[Penfold]

Mexico:

Merc:
Hammy - 9 - Massaging those tyres to an impressive victory.
Val - 7 - Nothing humorous/intelligent comes to mind.  Edit: Just deducted one point for qualifying crash.

Ferrari:
Seb - 8 - Think they waited a few laps too long before pitting - lost quite a few seconds in a short space of time.
'It is I' - 7 - Strategy played its part, but also surprised he couldn't use tyre advantage to take Bottas at the end.

Red Bull:
Blur - 7 - Clean but not that fast given the car's stellar performance round here.
Max - 6 - Stupid error in qualifying; hit Hammy at the race start; clipped Bottas further on (bit unlucky with that one); then drove impressively to haul himself to sixth.

Renault:
Ricky Hairdo - 9 - Great stint on the hards; touch optimistic on the Perez move - needs to remember he's not in a Red Bull.
Hulk - 7 - Didn't match Ricky in this one, then got Kvyatted.

Haas:
Big Jean - 4 - Wow, this must be a new low for Haas in 2019.  It was also a particularly poor showing by Romain.
Son of Magnus - 6 - Way down the field but ahead of his team mate - a long, long way ahead.

McLaren:
Chuck Norris - X - Out too early for me to score.  Well, I know he didn't retire until lap 48, but he was just pootling around by himself after that pit-stop.
Rally Guy's Son - 7 - Obliged to pit early after qualifying inside the top ten on softs; unlikely to make it on one stop, but doubly screwed as the hards really didn't seem to work on his car.

Racing Point:
Perez - 9 - Showing his teamy how to do it.
The Stroller - 5 - Rather a long way off Sergio.

Alfauber:
Kimi - 6 - Picked up some floor damage at the start which obviously didn't help; eventually retired with cooling issues (for the car, not himself).
Adam Ant - 5 - Didn't pick up floor damage at the start and was still slower than Kimi.

Toro Rosso:
Greasy Peril - 7 - Another one hampered by the daft qualifying tyre rules, but had a reasonable race.
The Torpedo - 5 - Repeat after me: I will not crash into other cars and get stroppy when penalized by the stewards.



Williams: (Still miles behind everyone)
Jack - 6 - Bested by Roberto.
One-Armed Bandit - 7 - Had the measure of Jack this time.

Rest of words to follow - not sure why I started with the midfield drivers!

[Chrill]

Ohkay then. Austin TX.

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport:
Lewis Hamilton - 10/10 (Becoming a 6-time world champion is always going to be 10/10. The race itself was 8/10, in the end he didn't quite make the strategy work and a yellow flag saved him from Verstappen. P5 to P2 is great, though)
Valtteri Bottas - 9/10 (Pole to win, but had to work hard for it. Great stuff, and it must have felt amazing to pass Hamilton for the win even though the title battle ended)

Scuderia Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel - X/10 (Abysmal first lap, and early DNF. Hard to tell whether he did something wrong, or if the car was broken from the very start)
Charles Leclerc - 7/10 (Had no ability to keep up with the top drivers, and only kept P4 from Albon thanks to the Thai driver suffering damage at the start)

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing:
Alexander Albon - 7/10 (Got tangled with Sainz, was not allowed to use hards due to Pirelli saying so, and fought his way back to finish ahead of the midfield. Decent)
Max Verstappen - 8/10 (Tried to force the Mercedes cars into pitting early, and got Bottas to join him. That set Verstappen up to pass Hamilton, but he ended up not achieving that. Still, a podium is a podium and he was just 5 seconds behind the winner)

Renault F1 Team:
Daniel Ricciardo - 9/10 (One of two midfield drivers not lapped, and ran a long stint. Tires ran out near the end, and he himself said he could never have kept Norris behind for another lap)
Nico Hülkenberg - 6/10 (With the added benefit of choosing tyres from 11th on the grid, finishing ninth is not good enough. Especially when one of those positions came from Vettel, and the other from Gasly. In reality, then, the Hulk passed nobody)

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team:
Romain Grosjean - 6/10 (It's getting hard to rate Haas. Their car is so very poor, they are basically battling it out with Williams at this point)
Kevin Magnussen - 6/10 (It's getting hard to rate Haas. Their car is so very poor, they are basically battling it out with Williams at this point)

McLaren F1 Team:
Lando Norris - 9/10 (See Ricciardo, except the end stint was shorter so he had fresher tyres but failed to make the pass stick. Still, two-stopping and finishing 7th was impressive)
Carlos Sainz Jr. - 8/10 (Another strong showing, but he did not quite keep up with Norris here. Started ahead, finished behind)

SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team:
Sergio Perez - 9/10 (Pit lane to points? Noice. Well done, Señor Perez)
Lance Stroll - 5/10 (If your buddy friend starts in the pits, passes you, and beats you by a lot, your race was not very good. That's how this all went for Stroll)

Alfa Romeo Racing:
Kimi Räikkönen - 8/10 (P17 to P11? Nice. The Alfa just looks slow, but he got the most out of it and finished just ten places behind his previous result here. Meh.)
Antonio Giovinazzi - 6/10 (Lost out to Kimi at the start and never looked like challenging him. In reality, Giovinazzi finished last, because only Haases and Williamses finished behind him)

Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda:
Pierre Gasly - 7/10 (Broke the suspension after battling with Perez due to Gasly's tires running out)
Daniil Kvyat - 4/10 (Broke Perez's car after torpedoing him due to Perez's tires running out)

ROKiT Williams Racing:
George Russell - 5/10 (The only driver lapped twice, and ended up classified behind Gasly despite Gasly retiring. That's how far behind Williams ran here)
Robert Kubica - 4/10 (Sure, he ran half the race before retiring. Always slightly behind Russell. I think Kubica is now just longing for this season to be over)

[Penfold]

Time to throw some scores about for the U.S.A.

Merc:
Hammy - 8 - Another master class in tyre conservation (and late yellow flags) elevated him to second place after a less than stellar qualifying. 
Val - 9 - Pity we didn't have this Valerie for the entire season.  Hopefully he is now bedded in at Merc and can give Lewis a decent fight next year.

Ferrari:
Seb - X - Car looked a handful and then it snapped.  Literally.
'It is I' - 7 - Absence of grip made it a tough race for the lone Ferrari pilot.

Red Bull:
Blur - 7 - Damage at start of race dropped him to the back, but despite also being compromised by not having a set of hards to use (one was cracked), he brought the car home in a respectable 5th.
Max - 8 - Fast enough to keep the Mercs honest, perhaps could've had second were it not for the KMag yellow flags.

Renault:
Ricky Hairdo - 9 - The Tyre Whisperer kept those hards rolling for even longer than Hammy.
Hulk - 6 - As the Chrill said, gifted a free choice of tyres having qualified 11th and yet he scraped into the top ten courtesy of retirements.

Haas:
Big Jean - 6 - I mean, how the hell do we rate these guys?
Son of Magnus - 6 - What I just said.

McLaren:
Chuck Norris - 9 - Started off the year strongly and has only improved with experience; going to be a close battle with Sainz in '20.
Rally Guy's Son - 8 - Scruffy first corner, then always looked like he was playing second fiddle to Norris.

Racing Point:
Perez - 8 - Still showing his teamy how to do it.  Deducted one point for his weighbridge cock up.
The Stroller - 5 - Once again, he is rather a long way off Sergio.

Alfauber:
Kimi - 7 - Didn't finish ahead of anyone decent, but then the car doesn't really have it in it anymore.
Adam Ant - 6 - Still not as quick as Kimi - quelle surprise!

Toro Rosso:
Greasy Peril - 7 - Not sure what happened between him and Perez (besides it breaking Pierre's car), but he ran well to that point.
The Torpedo - 4 - Repeat after me: I will not crash into other cars and get stroppy when penalized by the stewards. 



Williams: (Still miles behind everyone)
Jack - 6 - Car's performance woeful; Jack's seemed decent enough - considerably quicker than Rob when he was still out on track.
One-Armed Bandit - 4 - I suspect Chrill is bang on about Kubica counting down the days until he doesn't have to set foot in this car.

[Chrill]

Yasss queen, it's Brazil!

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport:
Lewis Hamilton - 6/10 (He tried to win, but the fact is Verstappen passed him much too easily. Twice, was it not? Then, punting Albon removes one point from his tally of 7.)
Valtteri Bottas - 6/10 (He was not fast enough, but was also put on a poor strategy. No point deduction means he equals Hamilton despite having a worse weekend)

Scuderia Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel - 3/10 (Nooo. Don't veer into your teammate and take each other off! Before that, Vettel was struggling to keep a podium spot despite starting 2nd. Mediocre)
Charles Leclerc - 8/10 (P14 to P3 or P2 would have been his result had he not crashed. I'm not deducting a point for the crash with Vettel, so he'll keep his 8 points here)

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing:
Alexander Albon - 8/10 (Stayed well out of trouble, was aggressive in the restarts, beat the Ferraris really well. Dit not fully have the pace to challenge Verstappen for a win, I think, before being spun by Hamilton. Big shame)
Max Verstappen - 10/10 (Pole, blocked in pits, overtakes Hamilton, safety cars, great strategy calls, and a really nice drive. This is the clearest 10 in a while)

Renault F1 Team:
Daniel Ricciardo - 7/10 (Deducting one for spinning Magnussen early on, but that recovery was great. Without all the top drivers crashing, he would still have scored maybe one or two points. Good stuff)
Nico Hülkenberg - 5/10 (Minus one for passing before SC, but even then he only finished 12th before being demoted. Behind a team mate who suffered a penalty, then)

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team:
Romain Grosjean - 8/10 (Finally a decent Haas car, I feel. Still, Russell managed to beat Grosjean near the end thanks to those Safety Cars. Not quite good enough. EDIT: Revisited his score after reading this: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/haas-brazil-mgu-k-podium-grosjean/4600463/)
Kevin Magnussen - 8/10 (Sure, lots of cars DNFed, but he kept his cool and very nearly scored the first Haas points in a while. Well done, considering he was spun early on)

McLaren F1 Team:
Lando Norris - 6/10 (Played the team game after being unable to switch on the hard tyre properly. Not a great race)
Carlos Sainz Jr. - 10/10 (P20 to P8? That alone is perhaps worth 10. Five of the top six mess up? Great, that makes P8 a P3 instead. Well done. Keeping Alfa Romeo behind despite ABSURDLY worn mediums? Amazing)

SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team:
Sergio Perez - 6/10 (Well, he never crashed with anyone. Most others did. That's why he scored two points. Had it not been for the top drivers messing up, this would have been a very mediocre race)
Lance Stroll - 5/10 (Like Perez but slower. And then his car hit debris and he was out)

Alfa Romeo Racing:
Kimi Räikkönen - 8/10 (Seven points for an Alfa in fourth? ABSURD, you may say. Well, the fact is he should have beaten Sainz. He really should have. P4 would have been P9 had it not been for the mess, so that's worthy of
Antonio Giovinazzi - 8/10 (Followed Kimi home, but arguably looked faster in those final laps. Could he have taken the challenge to Sainz, if given the opportunity? We'll never know)

Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda:
Pierre Gasly - 9/10 (A Toro Rosso in 2nd, surely that's 10/10? Nah. Once again, this was a drive to P7. Best of the rest? Sure! But he started best of the rest, too. That's worthy of a 9)
Daniil Kvyat - 5/10 (Considering where Gasly finished, being 10th is nowhere near good enough for Kvyat)

ROKiT Williams Racing:
George Russell - 8/10 (He's 12th. 16 drivers finished, and he's ahead of several. Among those a Grosjean who he genuinely passed. Then, a spun Albon and a demoted Hulkenberg also split Russell and Kubica.)
Robert Kubica - 5/10 (A lap down on Russell, but was running ahead early on in the race. Kubica shows decent racecraft, the first few laps are often pretty neat. Then, he just lacks the pace. Sorry, Kubbie)

[Penfold]

Liking your scoring & commentary for Brazil; 'twas well worth noting that the massacre amongst the top runners flattered others' positions.  When I do eventually get round to doing mine, and let's be positive and say it'll be sometime this week, I think the difference between our ratings will be miniscule.

[Penfold]

It's still this week!  Brazil:

Merc:
Hammy - 7
Val - 6

Ferrari:
Seb - 4
'It is I' - 8

Red Bull:
Blur - 8
Max - 10

Renault:
Ricky Hairdo - 7
Hulk - 5

Haas:
Big Jean - 8
Son of Magnus - 7

McLaren:
Chuck Norris - 7
Rally Guy's Son - 10

Racing Point:
Perez - 7
The Stroller - 6

Alfauber:
Kimi - 8
Adam Ant - 8

Toro Rosso:
Greasy Peril - 9
The Torpedo - 5



Williams: (Still miles behind everyone)
Jack - 8
One-Armed Bandit - 5

[Chrill]

Lovely. With one race to go, the tables are looking pretty set.

If it was up to us then, and our best rated drivers would drive the fastest cars, the 2020 grid I guess should look a little like this:

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport:
33. Max Verstappen
55. Carlos Sainz

Scuderia Ferrari:
44. Lewis Hamilton
16. Charles Leclerc

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing:
4. Lando Norris
77. Valtteri Bottas

McLaren F1 Team:
3. Daniel Ricciardo
23. Alexander Albon

Renault F1 Team:
63. George Russell
11. Sergio Perez

Scuderia Alpha Tauri Honda:
7. Kimi Räikkönen
26. Daniil Kvyat

SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team:
5. Sebastian Vettel
27. Nico Hülkenberg

Alfa Romeo Racing:
10. Pierre Gasly
18. Lance Stroll

Haas F1 Team:
88. Robert Kubica
8. Romain Grosjean

ROKiT Williams Racing:
20. Kevin Magnussen
99. Antonio Giovinazzi


So, to sum it up, I suppose Haas is rocking pretty much what we can expect of them.

[Penfold]

Whereas Williams is clearly getting much better than it deserves; I'd suggest a couple of guys/gals who have rolled up to a Silverstone track day would be more fitting.

[Chrill]

There are a couple of pairings I'd quite love to see.

First of all, Lewis and Charles at Ferrari is hot. Obviously. Norris and Bottas at Red Bull feels a bit mediocre, but sure. Ricciardo in a McLaren feels nice too.

Vettel and the Hulk at Force Point Racing India is pretty hot, that team definitely benefitted from these changes.

[Chrill]

Let us rate the drivers one final time for 2019:

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport:
Lewis Hamilton - 10/10 (Impossible to rate him less than 10. Held the lead at the start, built a gap, maintained it, led every single lap, fastest lap. Grand slam. Boom. That's how to do it)
Valtteri Bottas - 8/10 (Started far back, hindered by DRS being disabled, but found his way past a Ferrari and a Red Bull. Neat)

Scuderia Ferrari:
Sebastian Vettel - 6/10 (Fairly poor, over a minute behind Lewis, and 20 behind Leclerc)
Charles Leclerc - 8/10 (Hey, reached the podium thanks to a decent start where he found his way past Verstappen. Lost out somewhere around the pit stops, pitted too early and forced himself into a two-stopper)

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing:
Alexander Albon - 6/10 (Not his strongest race for Red Bull)
Max Verstappen - 8/10 (The only one even remotely capable of matching Lewis)

Renault F1 Team:
Daniel Ricciardo - 7/10 (Dropped back from a decent starting position, but at least he fought his way past the Hulk when Sainz was battling him)
Nico Hülkenberg - 6/10 (Started right behind Ricciardo, finished right behind Ricciardo. Mediocre end to a mediocre F1 career. That 2009 pole in Brazil promised more than we got)

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team:
Romain Grosjean - 6/10 (Back where they belong. At the rear)
Kevin Magnussen - 6/10 (See RoGro)

McLaren F1 Team:
Lando Norris - 8/10 (Very nearly held on to the best of the rest honours after making his strategy work much better than Sainz did. In the end, it wasn't to be)
Carlos Sainz Jr. - 7/10 (Struggled with tyre degradation, opted for a two-stopper, sort of made it work)

SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team:
Sergio Perez - 9/10 (The last driver to start on softs, which should hinder his progress. Still, he made it all happen in Abu Dhabi. Boom)
Lance Stroll - 4/10 (Poor race. Very poor. Crashed into Gasly, had no pace, and then retired the car due to issues with them there brakes)

Alfa Romeo Racing:
Kimi Räikkönen - 7/10 (When it comes to it, he beats Giovinazzi)
Antonio Giovinazzi - 5/10 (Not yet up to par with a 40-year old gentleman driver)

Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda:
Pierre Gasly - X/10 (Hit at the start, no chance to catch up. Should have just retired on the spot)
Daniil Kvyat - 7/10 (Clean race, unusually enough. When that happens, a decent haul of points is available. P9? Not terrible, not great)

ROKiT Williams Racing:
George Russell - 8/10 (Chased the Alfa of Antonio near the end, but was never close enough to try something)
Robert Kubica - 5/10 (Finished his comeback one lap behind Russell. Nope, this was not his year)

[Penfold]

Afraid I didn't watch that one.  You'll have to tally my 2019 scores sans Abu Dhabi.