Ratings | Verstappen dominates and sees former Red Bull colleague impress
Red Bull Contentpool
F1 News
Max Verstappen also dominated the Canadian Grand Prix, although this weekend it was not by as much as the past races. The Red Bull driver was faultless in the weekend in which he matched Ayrton Senna, but the same cannot be said of all other drivers. Here are GPblog's figures based on the entire race weekend in Montreal.
Verstappen: 10
Max Verstappen was lord and master at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. In all conditions, Verstappen was fastest on Saturday and on Sunday too, nobody could match Verstappen in his RB19. Another perfect weekend for Verstappen, who is heading for his third F1 world title early in the season.
Alonso: 9
A poor start is the only blemish on the race of Fernando Alonso, who otherwise drove a perfect weekend. On Saturday, he maximised his performance by securing the second starting spot, and on Sunday he gave it away briefly, but recovered handsomely himself. Overtaking Hamilton is not easy, so that the Spaniard managed to do it anyway shows that he is still among the top drivers.
Hamilton: 8
Lewis Hamilton maximised for Mercedes. The Briton drove a good qualifying session and was off like a rocket at the start. With the advantage in top speed, you would then expect Hamilton to be able to hold off his old rival, but that proved not to be the case. A nice overtaking move by Alonso, for sure, but the door was also open on the inside.
Leclerc: 6
If you saw the Ferrari's pace in the race, you know a podium here would have been achievable. However, things went wrong for Charles Leclerc on Saturday where he failed to string together the right lap in the changeable conditions. A fourth place is a fine result after that Saturday, but what if....?
Sainz: 6
The same question could be asked of Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard did get through Q2 and set an eighth time, but he wasted that starting spot by hampering Gasly in his qualifying. Fifth was therefore the maximum for Sainz on Sunday, but for both Ferrari drivers it could have been much more over the weekend.
Perez: 4
This is especially true for Sergio Perez, who again failed in qualifying. Again Perez failed to get through Q2, where his teammate manages to win race after race with the same equipment. Time and again, Perez points to the team as the culprit, but given Verstappen's performance, that is not justified. The Mexican will have to work harder himself, as his pace in the race was not good enough either.
Albon: 10
A great performance from Alexander Albon in Canada. The Thai is driving himself into the limelight this way, as he more than maximised in Montreal with seventh place for Williams. Helped of course by the straight-line speed of the FW45, but doing it with a DRS train behind is very impressive.
Ocon: 8
A strong weekend for Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman was Alpine's clear leader on Saturday and Sunday, scoring some much-needed points again.
Stroll: 4
Lance Stroll underperformed domestically. The Canadian failed to get through Q2 and finished the race in ninth place. Then when you see his teammate on the podium, the gap is far too big.
Bottas: 9
Valtteri Bottas also made his presence felt once again in Canada. On Saturday, the Finn was already very strong and a clever one-stop put the Alfa Romeo driver in the points. At the finish, he was still outsmarted by Stroll, but Bottas takes home another point due to Norris' penalty.
Piastri: 6
Oscar Piastri had the speed this weekend but made a mistake in qualifying and ended up in the wall. His team repaired the car, and the Australian looked good for points, until his teammate surprised him in the hairpin. After that, points remained out of reach even though the speed really seemed to be there.
Gasly: 5
Things did not work out for Pierre Gasly in qualifying when he was hampered by Sainz, but the Frenchman can also blame himself for not driving a time good enough for Q2 earlier. In the race, Gasly climbed steadily, but it was not enough to finish in the points.
Norris: 5
Lando Norris started the weekend well with qualifying on Saturday but threw away his chances and also those of his teammate on Sunday. Norris wanted to pull time to avoid losing time at the double pit stop, but should know that there is a penalty for this. In the DRS train, his hopes of points were dashed as a result. He then made things even harder for his team by overtaking teammate Piastri in the hairpin. A good overtaking move, but when your teammate is the only one who can still score points, it is not really useful. Now both McLaren drivers score no points.
Tsunoda: 6
Yuki Tsunoda was not faultless with hindering Hulkenberg in qualifying but did maximise in a dismal weekend for AlphaTauri.
Hulkenberg: 7
After a phenomenal qualifying session, things went quickly downhill for Nico Hulkenberg on Sunday. The German had absolutely no pace with his Haas and could not even stay in the points. However, that will be more down to the car than to Nico's qualities. That he is still fast, however, he showed again on Saturday.
Zhou: 5
A lesser performance from Guanyu Zhou, who was behind his teammate all weekend in Canada.
Magnussen: 5
Kevin Magnussen also disappointed this weekend. His teammate also failed to get any points in the end, but stole the show on behalf of Haas. The Dane rarely manages that this year.
De Vries: 4
In terms of pace, it was quite a nice weekend for Nyck de Vries, but his clumsy action towards Magnussen brought him back into the news in a negative way. He underestimated in the first chicane how hard K-mag was fighting for a place, only to completely brake out of frustration before the next corner. Of course, it was already no longer about points, but De Vries does not make a good impression at all with this.
Russell: 3
George Russell was in fine form and, with Hamilton, had the advantage of being outnumbered in the duel with Alonso. However, the Briton went wrong himself and damaged his car immensely. The race seemed over, although Russell still got back into the points handsomely. To do so, he did ask the maximum of his car, which eventually caused Russell to retire due to brake problems. According to Mercedes, not as a result of the crash but rather due to having to overtake in traffic.
Sargeant: 5
Logan Sargeant could not do on Saturday what Albon could, but barely got a chance to rectify that on Sunday. The American had to pull his car over with a critical problem on the car.