Ratings | Verstappen king in Austria, big performances from Norris

Verstappen: 10

It is almost starting to get boring, but once again, you cannot give Max Verstappen anything other than a 10 for his performance at the Red Bull Ring. The Dutchman was the fastest in every session and only had a lesser moment at the start of the sprint race. However, the Dutchman quickly recovered that, after which he again drove all competitors, including his teammate, to a ridiculously large deficit. Yes, Verstappen has the best car, but he is also making the most of it at the moment.

Leclerc: 7

Looking only at qualifying and the race, Charles Leclerc had a very good weekend in Austria. The Monegasque came very close to pole position and drove to a handsome second place on Sunday. The big blemish on his weekend was Saturday, with Leclerc underperforming compared to his teammate in wet conditions. Sunday was not flawless in that respect either, as Sainz had to be stopped by the team from overtaking Leclerc.

Perez: 5

Looking purely at the results of the sprint race and the Grand Prix, the Mexican did not do badly, with a second and a third place to his name. However, it remains painful that he failed to get through Q2 for the fourth time in a row with the RB19 and again did not take the blame for that himself. Nor will the moment with Verstappen in the sprint race have earned any plus points from Helmut Marko. It was insufficient what Perez showed this weekend, despite a second and third-place finish.

Sainz: 7

Carlos Sainz was remarkably strong this weekend. On Friday, he fell just short of beating his teammate in qualifying, which he managed to do in the Sprint Shootout on Saturday. There, the Spaniard impressed in the rain, only to continue that streak on Sunday. However, Ferrari did not allow Sainz to attack, putting the 28-year-old driver at a significant strategic disadvantage. Sainz was fast and perhaps could have made more of a statement by passing Leclerc. It is clear that Ferrari wants to push him into the role of second driver, and it is now up to Sainz to show what he is really worth.

Norris: 9

He was the only one with McLaren's updates at his disposal, but Lando Norris showed the ability he has to race up in the high points positions for McLaren. For years he has shown what he can do in the middle order, but with the new MCL60, he finally seems to be able to compete with Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston Martin. The moment when Norris can really start showing himself as a driver, something that worked out well this weekend apart from a few moments when he braked

Alonso: 7

Fernando Alonso had a tougher weekend in Austria. Stroll was surprisingly the stronger of the two in qualifying and the sprint race. Alonso put that right with a good race, but the Spaniard will surely realise he needs to pull it out more if he wants to keep Stroll behind him so easily.

Hamilton: 5

Lewis Hamilton was not in a good place this weekend. He drove another good qualifying session, but Hamilton was nowhere to be seen on Saturday. In particular, the fact that his fastest lap the Sprint Shootout was dropped due to exceeding a track limit made for an embarrassing elimination in SQ1. On Sunday, Hamilton struggled in a tough race, where he was caught out with several mistakes. Norris was able to take advantage of Hamilton braking too late, and Hamilton got a time penalty (again for exceeding the track limits). The Briton complained bitterly over the team radio, which even team boss Toto Wolff seemed done with at one point.

Russell: 5

For George Russell, it was another difficult weekend. The young Briton has a tougher time with his W14 than Lewis and found that out again in qualifying. In the race, the young Briton recovered nicely, and the sprint race was also a fine 'recovery race', but it will still gnaw at Russell that Hamilton seems to be getting the upper hand somewhat again.

Gasly: 7

A good qualifying and race, a mediocre Sprint Shootout and Sprint race. In that respect, Pierre Gasly and his teammate drove a weekend that was pretty balanced. Gasly finishes with a number of points.

Stroll: 6

A competitive weekend for Lance Stroll, in which he was finally able to match Alonso for much of the race weekend. However, at the moment it mattered, in the Grand Prix, he did disappoint a little and fell back a little.

Albon: 7

Alexander Albon drove another strong weekend for Williams, but unlike in Canada, he was not rewarded with points. That will always be difficult in a Williams too, but there were real chances in the sprint race. Then, however, the team gambled wrong with the pit strategy. Had Albon stayed outside on intermediates, he would have had a great chance of points.

Ocon: 6

Esteban Ocon scored the points on Saturday but had to leave that honour to his teammate on Sunday. A solid weekend for Ocon, although he would have liked to be closer to his compatriot on Friday and Sunday.

Sargeant: 6

A glimmer of hope for Logan Sargeant, who for the first time looked reasonably competitive for an entire weekend. On Sunday in particular, things looked good for the American. The gap is still too big towards Albon in most sessions, but it is a step in the right direction.

Zhou: 6

Guanyu Zhou had a colourless weekend and failed to qualify for points.

De Vries: 6

Nyck de Vries is under a lot of pressure at AlphaTauri, and with his performance this weekend, he will not have immediately convinced Helmut Marko that he should stay either. De Vries fought a lot, sometimes just over the edge, but at times finished ahead of his teammate in the race. But points did not yet result.

Bottas: 5

Valtteri Bottas had another very mediocre weekend for Alfa Romeo, where the fun of racing also seems to be ebbing away for the Finn.

Piastri: 5

Sure, Oscar Piastri was driving the old MCL60, but the gap to his teammate was quite large. The Australian will be hoping to get updates at Silverstone so that he too can start competing with the top drivers.

Tsunoda: 5

Yuki Tsunoda did have the pace this weekend but was visibly very wild. As a result, the Japanese driver received the most time penalties and almost finished at the back.

Magnussen: 4

With an expiring contract, Kevin Magnussen will nevertheless be increasingly worried about the impressive Hulkenberg at his side at Haas. With Mick Schumacher, Magnussen was the hero. How he has to watch from a distance. He unfairly directs that frustration at De Vries this weekend. Rightly so, according to the stewards, but Magnussen himself is always a hard racer and would never let anyone pass on the outside. He should have made his own decision and not complained afterwards that Nyck ran him off the track. It is up to Magnussen to drive harder, as The Hulk is showing that he does not need to drive so far behind.

Hulkenberg: 9

An excellent weekend for Nico Hulkenberg ended with a smoking engine, but the weekend also came with points for the German in the sprint race. Hulkenberg is especially impressive in qualifying but showed in the sprint race that he can also defend and attack quite well. The three points were therefore more than deserved.