Ratings | Verstappen in a class of his own at the Canadian Grand Prix
- GPblog.com
The Grand Prix of Canada ended up being a victory for Max Verstappen. The Dutchman was in a class of his own compared to the rest of the field and this is reflected in GPblog's figures given over an entire race weekend.
Verstappen: 10
There was no measure of Max Verstappen at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. From the first free practice, Verstappen already set the tone and especially in the rain he was impressive. Almost every run he was a second ahead of the competition. In the race it became exciting, but under pressure from Sainz Verstappen made no mistake.
Sainz: 8.5
Carlos Sainz could have attacked Verstappen from P2 at the start and in hindsight he would have had the pace to win the race. Due to a mistake in qualifying he threw away that spot on the front row of the grid and so he had to attack during the race. He tried everything, but never really got Verstappen to falter.
Hamilton: 9
Lewis Hamilton delivered a great performance in Montreal by finishing third. The Briton was very fast in the race and did not make an error of judgement in qualifying. Sticking with the frontrunners ahead, it looked like the Hamilton of old was back.
Russell: 7
Russell, in fact, threw away his qualifying himself with a choice of slicks. Although a gamble can work out well, in hindsight he lost a podium place with it. He ended up having to settle for a spot behind Hamilton.
Leclerc: 8
Charles Leclerc did what he could with the grid penalty that placed him at the back of the grid. With P5, he limited the damage, but after race nine of this season, it will probably not be Leclerc's last grid penalty.
Ocon: 7
Esteban Ocon was considerably slower than Alonso all weekend, but still managed to grab the most points for the team through a smart strategy. However, this can be credited more to Alpine.
Bottas: 7
Valtteri Bottas drove from the hard tire in one go to the final safety car and then changed tires. It brought him into the top ten and due to a penalty for Alonso even a P7.
Zhou: 8
After a point in Bahrain, there are now four points for Guanyu Zhou. After much criticism, the Chinese driver finally grabs some points again after being faster than his teammate in qualifying as well.
Alonso: 9
Fernando Alonso didn't have luck on his side (as it often has this season). Alpine didn't help the Spaniard with a poor strategy, which even caused the Spaniard to fall back behind his teammate. After a particularly strong Saturday, this was very painful. That he lost two spots due to a time penalty will be of no concern to Alonso.
Stroll: 8
Lance Stroll also executed the strategy from hard to medium tire perfectly in his home country. The Canadian spent most of the race defending from a three-car train behind him and brought home the points in his home race. Like Bottas, Stroll only changed at the last safety car and that earned him a point.
Ricciardo: 7
Daniel Ricciardo had a strong on Saturday, but was not exactly helped with some inferior pit stops from McLaren. The Australian narrowly missed out on points in what was for him another solid weekend.
Vettel: 7
Sebastian Vettel was very fast all weekend, but on Saturday his AMR22 suddenly didn't have the pace anymore. The German was still a second faster than his teammate, but with a lesser strategy on Sunday it didn't matter.
Albon: 9
Alexander Albon qualified excellently in twelfth place and finished one spot lower after a lot of battles throughout the Grand Prix. Unlike his teammate, the Thai driver is showing what is possible with this car.
Gasly: 6
Pierre Gasly opted for an aggressive strategy with an early pit stop, but was stuck in traffic for the entire race as a result. It was not the Frenchman's weekend.
Norris: 6
Lando Norris had a lot of bad luck this weekend. There were engine problems in qualifying and in the race his tires were not ready for a pit stop. The Brit will want to have a heart-to-heart with his team after the race.
Latifi: 5
Nicholas Latifi again came nowhere near his teammate in qualifying and the race.
Magnussen: 6
Kevin Magnussen did something typical for him on the first lap of the race. Sitting on the outside of a driver who is much faster anyway, and taking damage in the process. It potentially cost him a top-ten spot, which Haas could have used so well.
Tsunoda: 3
Yuki Tsunoda started at the back due to a grid penalty and fought his way to the front. Thanks to a good strategy, he was in eleventh place when he came in for his pit stop and was able to attack from P15. He was even ahead of his teammate. However, a huge blunder coming out of the pits put an end to his race.
Schumacher: 7
Mick Schumacher is under a lot of pressure at Haas, but you have to hand it to him that things are not going his way either. In seventh place, his car broke down and he had to end his race early. The string of bad luck continues for now.
Perez: 5
Sergio Perez drove a poor weekend in Canada. The Mexican shot into the wall in qualifying through his own mistake, lacked any speed at all in that session compared to his teammate and then had bad luck in the race. His gearbox seemed to be failing, possibly due to Saturday's crash.