Drivers' ratings | Sovereign Verstappen rises above F1 field

Max Verstappen - 10

After the terrifying pace Verstappen showed during qualifying and in fact all weekend, everyone predicted him as the absolute top favourite for victory. Bizarre when you consider that he had to start from 14th place. Moreover, the Dutchman had to live up to the sky-high expectations, but he did so perfectly. Verstappen moved through the field like a knife through butter and needed just five laps to move up to third place after the early safety car. After that, the Red Bull Racing driver quickly took the lead, before disappearing on the horizon. If there was any doubt, it has now been allayed by almost everyone: Verstappen now truly holds his second world title with one hand.

Sergio Perez - 8

Perez was unable to keep up with the pace of his faster team-mate, but still drove a very strong race. The Mexican lost places at the start to a clutch problem, but quickly made up places. He also beat Carlos Sainz to take second place, securing Red Bull's fourth double victory of the year along with Verstappen. He also took over second place in the championship from Charles Leclerc.

Carlos Sainz - 8

Sainz did nothing wrong at the Belgian GP, but his Ferrari was simply inferior to Red Bull Racing's RB18. The Spaniard was given pole position and managed to hold on to it for as long as possible, but was beaten by the Red Bulls. A less than successful tyre strategy even threatened his podium position, but the Spaniard refused to give away third place to George Russell.

Charles Leclerc - 7.5

Leclerc also had little to reproach himself with - he was unlucky enough to have a tear-off (which bizarrely seemed to have come from Verstappen) hit his brakes, forcing him to make a very early stop. As a result, he had to start again on his way up through the field. He did well, but his Ferrari did not have enough pace to attack Russell's Mercedes in the closing stages of the race. That is also where Ferrari and Leclerc went wrong. The late pit stop was too much of a risk and not only proved pointless but the Monegasque lost two points to Fernando Alonso.

George Russell - 8

Russell will not have expected to fight for a podium after Saturday's disastrous qualifying, in which he lost more than two seconds to Verstappen. He made things difficult for Sainz in the closing stages of the race, but ultimately fell just short of attacking for the final podium spot.

Lewis Hamilton - 3.5

Mercedes' massive lead suddenly shrank on Sunday. Helped by the Ferrari's tyre degradation, the podium suddenly seemed within reach, as Russell showed in the second stint. Hamilton deprived himself of the chance to compete by eliminating himself on the first lap with an almost rookie-like move on his old rival Fernando Alonso. The Belgian GP may therefore mark the low point of the 37-year-old Briton's season.

Fernando Alonso - 8

Alonso hoped to take advantage of his third place on the grid and got away to a great start, but the Spaniard had to contend with an over-eager Lewis Hamilton who ignored him during his overtaking manoeuvre. The Alpine driver got away well from the incident, but had to finish the race with some damage. He achieved the maximum possible result, crossing the finish line in fifth place.

Esteban Ocon - 7.5

Ocon was one of the drivers who had a lot of catching up to do. The Frenchman's race is arguably one of the highlights of his F1 career: not only did he come from P16 back to P7, but on his way to the front he showed some beautiful but controlled overtaking. A very fine piece of overtaking by the Alpine driver.

Sebastian Vettel - 8

Vettel will also have had a great time in Belgium. The Aston Martin driver took advantage of the numerous grid penalties to start tenth on the grid, but also managed to gain two places and score valuable points for his team.

Lance Stroll - 7

Stroll also had a good starting position with ninth on the grid, but after his pit stops he struggled to regain the lost places. The Canadian was unable to hold on to his top-ten position and ended up just outside the points, although he did put a lot of pressure on Alexander Albon for the final point.

Alexander Albon - 8.5

Alex Albon shone during the race weekend at Spa. He posted his best qualifying result of the season at P6, helped in part by the grid penalties handed out. He knew it would be a challenge to hold on for a points finish, but the Williams driver cut his teeth, ran wide and grabbed the final point of the day.

Nicholas Latifi - 4

Another lacklustre performance from Latifi, who spun through his own mistake and almost took two other drivers with him. Valtteri Bottas was forced to retire early as a result, but Ocon was also forced to retire early. Latifi was able to continue, but had to settle for last.

Pierre Gasly - 8

Gasly was due to start the race from eighth on the grid, but was forced to start from the pits at the last minute. The Frenchman drove an impressive race and managed to move into the top ten. The points will be very welcome for AlphaTauri, who have been on a dry spell since the Canadian GP.

Yuki Tsunoda - 7

Tsunoda started the race from the pits, so the Japanese driver also had quite a challenge. He managed to get up to the front of the grid, but was only 13th. AlphaTauri clearly still has work to do to improve their results.

Daniel Ricciardo - 5.5

A fail for both McLaren drivers, who were fine in the cool conditions on Friday and Saturday, but lost out on Sunday. Ricciardo lost 8 places in the race.

Lando Norris - 6

Norris did a little better than his teammate, given his seventeenth starting position. However, the McLaren talent failed to gain more than five places and Sunday was a stark contrast to the rest of the weekend.

Valtteri Bottas - 5

The birthday boy Bottas was sacrificed by Latifi's action, almost torpedoing the Finn. Bottas' reflexes worked brilliantly and the Alfa Romeo driver just managed to avoid Latifi's Williams, but ended up in the gravel and saw his race come to a disappointing end.

Guanyu Zhou - 5

Not an exceptional performance from Zhou this weekend, who managed to come back from P18 to P14. There, however, the Chinese driver was stuck behind Tsunoda and it meant a rather colourless race for the Alfa Romeo driver.

Mick Schumacher - 4.5

The Haas drivers also failed to leave a deep impression. Schumacher was stuck in the back and had to settle for a two-place win.

Kevin Magnussen - 5.5

Magnussen started from a good position on the 12th grid, but had to make up his mind when the grid-damaged drivers passed him. He lost 4 spots and only managed to keep his teammate and Latifi behind him.