Ratings | Verstappen beaten by Perez, De Vries misses out several times

Perez: 9

'Checo' was strong from the first metres in Baku, as expected beforehand. The Mexican is always strong on street circuits and the Red Bull driver lived up to his 'King of the streets' name, according to Christian Horner. The only blemish on Perez's otherwise near-perfect weekend was the fact that he was beaten by his teammate in qualifying on Friday. On Sunday, he beat Max, but overtook him with the help of the safety car. Whether he would have succeeded without it we had yet to see.

Verstappen: 7

Verstappen did not have his best weekend in Azerbaijan. The Dutchman drove to second place in a strong qualifying session, but could not beat his teammate in the sprint shootout and the F1 Sprint. In the Sprint it was because of damage to his car, but could he not have avoided that by staying out of the duel with the eager Russell? Even when he found himself behind his teammate in Sunday's race, the two-time world champion failed to make up the difference.

Leclerc: 9

Charles Leclerc finished a street-length away from the Red Bulls, but the Monegasque did drive almost a perfect weekend. Over one lap, Leclerc showed what was possible with the SF-23, something his teammate proved far from capable of. The Red Bull drivers were certainly too fast, Leclerc knew that too, but the Ferrari driver made the most of this weekend with P2 and P3. The only blemish was his slight crash at the end of qualifying. He himself was not affected, but his teammate could forget about another fast lap. Leclerc was lucky that his car could just be repaired for Saturday.

Alonso: 8

Fernando Alonso drove a strong weekend in which Aston Martin had many problems. Not only did the AMR23 not seem quite suitable for this circuit, the DRS did not cooperate either. This caused problems on Saturday, but on Sunday Alonso fought his way to a handsome fourth place. Once again, he seemingly easily stayed ahead of his teammate all weekend. That he gives so many tips to his 'younger brother' says enough about the relationships within the team.

Sainz: 5

Carlos Sainz was confidently addressing the press after each session. He did not know where things went wrong, but he could not turn it around. On Friday and Saturday he was seen in a spin several times and during the races he simply lacked the speed.

Hamilton: 7

Lewis Hamilton drove a solid weekend for Mercedes. He was once again faster than his younger teammate in qualifying and the race, but had to cede the better spots to his teammate on Saturday.

Stroll: 6

Lance Stroll was still using his bike accident as an excuse for poorer performance at the start of the season, but he will really have to get closer to Alonso at some point. The Canadian once again has several drivers finish between him and his teammate. This is partly due to the big difference in qualifying, but also to mistakes in the race. For instance, he gifted the spot to Hamilton by going too wide in the last corner.

Russell: 6

George Russell himself was not happy with his weekend, which is not entirely surprising. On Friday he missed Q3 and on Sunday he was not sharp at the restart. On Saturday, the Brit started a lot better during the shootout, but he did not go clear in the collision with Max. The stewards saw it as a race incident, but Max clearly did not. Russell took a lot of risk, eventually finishing fourth.

Norris: 9

Lando Norris made the most of his McLaren this weekend. The young Briton was impressive in qualifying, making him the best driver after the top four teams at the moment. He had to be patient for a while, but was eventually able to pass Hulkenberg and Ocon. On Saturday, Norris finished lower than hoped, but that was mainly due to the failed gamble of starting on soft tyres. In McLaren' s position, however, you understand the choice.

Tsunoda: 7

Yuki Tsunoda secured another point for AlphaTauri, showing in everything that he is the team's leader. On Friday, he was clearly faster than his teammate and on Saturday, the Japanese was unlucky with the red flag during the shootout. In the F1 Sprint, he tried to rectify that, but did not get any space from his teammate. Perhaps he should have got off the gas, although it is not surprising that he expected more space from his teammate. On Sunday, Tsunoda appeared to get over the disappointment and rode handsomely to 10th place.

Piastri: 7

Oscar Piastri appeared ill all weekend, but was still able to stay very close to his teammate. He was no better, but given the circumstances, the rookie finished a solid weekend for McLaren.

Albon: 8

'More was not in it this weekend,' was Alexander Albon's clear conclusion after the Grand Prix. The Thai-British driver just missed out on points in the F1 Sprint on Saturday by finishing eighth and saw a good result go up in smoke on Sunday after he dived into the pits for the safety car.

Magnussen: 6

Kevin Magnussen had a lacklustre weekend for Haas, which as a team had little to contribute at all in Baku.

Gasly: 5

Pierre Gasly went into the wall himself during qualifying, making his weekend more difficult after a burnt engine in the first free practice. On Saturday, a problem with the Frenchman's exhaust prevented him from setting a second time in the sprint shootout. In the races, he climbed slightly, but never came close to points.

Ocon: 6

Esteban Ocon did slightly better than his teammate, but the other Frenchman also struggled with reliability problems of the Alpine. Ocon stayed out of trouble, however, but saw strategic gambles in the races (starting on the soft tyre in the F1 Sprint and going long on the hard tyre on Sunday) not work out.

Sargeant: 5

Logan Sargeant fell short of his teammate again this weekend, but the biggest reproach you can lay on the American is that he folded his car again. This time it went wrong in the sprint shootout. In his first reaction, Sargeant pointed at the Ferrari's that would drive in the way, but you could already see it from his face: he knew full well that he himself had gone wrong. As a result, he missed the F1 Sprint only to drive a colourless race on Sunday.

Hulkenberg: 6

Nico Hulkenberg, like his teammate, could derive little pleasure from driving a Haas this weekend. Points were never in it, although the German drove in the points for a long time on Sunday. However, the red flag or safety car that Haas was hoping for never came.

Bottas: 6

It was also a weekend to quickly forget for Valtteri Bottas. The Finn was once again faster in qualifying than his teammate, but then lost the duel again on Saturday. The Alfa Romeo was not at all good enough to score points this weekend.

Zhou: 6

Guanyu Zhou continues to perform consistently for Alfa Romeo and can really match his teammate on a weekly basis in 2023. Unfortunately for the Chinese, the car is not competitive enough at the moment.

De Vries: 3

Franz Tost was clear on Saturday morning: Nyck de Vries, like all other rookies, needs three years to prove himself in F1. Nyck needs to be able to make mistakes to know where the limit is. In that respect, Nyck should know that now, because he certainly made mistakes this weekend. First, things went wrong during qualifying. He himself wanted to analyse data before drawing a conclusion, but the team was clear: De Vries had braked too late. On Saturday he then made no friends within the team by giving his team mate little space in the F1 Sprint, only to clumsily hit the inside of a corner on Sunday. It was his own fault he revealed afterwards, he was too eager. Hopefully De Vries has learned from it and can put it behind him in Miami.