Ratings | Brits shine at home, Verstappen puts Perez to shame
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At the British Grand Prix, there were again a number of drivers who stood out head and shoulders above the rest, but also a few who underperformed. Here are GPblog's ratings, given based on performances in qualifying and the race.
Verstappen: 9
Max Verstappen drove to victory for the sixth time in a row and again did so with ease. His weekend was not flawless, with contact with the pit lane wall and a poor start to the race. None of it mattered much, as Verstappen quickly put things right in both cases. Just how good Verstappen's performance was can be seen from his teammate's result.
Norris: 10
The man of the weekend was Lando Norris. For a while, the Brit was thought to be on pole, but that was 'ruined' by Verstappen, as Norris himself would jokingly say after qualifying. Norris also did everything right in the race. He took the lead, handed it over easily so not to ruin his tyres, and held off Hamilton in the closing stages on tyres two steps harder.
Hamilton: 6
A podium for Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone, but Hamilton wasn't on top form this weekend. He lost the qualifying duel to Russell and lucked into P3 due to the fortunate timing of the safety car. On softer tyres, he had a big advantage over Norris but couldn't make the overtake and burnt up his tyres too quickly. In racecraft, Hamilton seems to be losing some ground on the younger drivers.
Piastri: 9
Oscar Piastri drove a fantastic weekend in Norris' shadow. Of course, he finished behind Norris and so does not deserve a ten, but if you can stay so close to Norris as a rookie and keep Russell behind using hard tyres, then you really are capable of showing great things in the future.
Russell: 8
A good weekend for George Russell, who was faster than his teammate. Russell was unlucky with the timing of the safety car and had to switch to mediums instead of the soft tyre. On that, he could never really make the attack on Piastri.
Perez: 3
Not getting into Q3 for the fifth time in a row with an RB19. Things are starting to get more painful for Sergio Perez by the week. He still recovers slightly on Sunday, but P6 is not nearly good enough when you see what Verstappen manages with the same equipment.
Alonso: 7
Fernando Alonso drove a quiet weekend at Silverstone but was once again the clear leader for Aston Martin. The Spaniard will be hoping some updates arrive for the Silverstone-based team.
Albon: 10
A phenomenal result for Alexander Albon, who briefly managed to pass two Ferraris in the closing stages and keep them behind him as well. The British-Thai has been distinguishing himself at Williams for weeks and continued that strong run in England.
Leclerc: 6
Charles Leclerc was faster than his team-mate, but with Ferrari's strategy, he could not make a serious challenge. Ferrari seemed quite competitive at the weekend, including in the long runs, but that wasn't shown on Sunday.
Sainz: 6
Carlos Sainz fell off completely at the end of the race on his used hard tyres. Everyone around him was driving on softer tyres, and that situation was again brought about by Ferrari. Sainz will be despondent by now.
Sargeant: 6
A good weekend for Logan Sargeant. Just short of points, but a weekend where he seemed more at one with the Williams. Still within a reasonable distance of Albon, though, but the gap seems to be narrowing slightly.
Bottas: 7
Valtteri Bottas didn't make the highlights reel this weekend but did finish well ahead of his teammate.
Hulkenberg: 7
A strong performance for Nico Hulkenberg this weekend. The German was again stronger than his teammate, but points weren't scored.
Stroll: 4
Lance Stroll was again considerably slower than his teammate this weekend and ended Gasly's race on Sunday with a mistake. He overtook the Frenchman off track, only to smash into the Frenchman at the final chicane. It was a wild performance from the Canadian, who himself did not understand why he had received a penalty for that action.
Zhou: 6
A quieter weekend for Guanyu Zhou, although there wasn't much more he could do with the Alfa Romeo car either.
Tsunoda: 7
Yuki Tsunoda continues to perform consistently for AlphaTauri, but it doesn't deliver much yet despite a big update package.
De Vries: 6
Nyck de Vries was again slower than his teammate this weekend, but the Dutchman was not far off.
Gasly: 7
Pierre Gasly drove a good weekend until his clash with Stroll. The Frenchman wasn't to blame for that. He made an angry speech about Stroll, the stewards and tapped Sainz on the shoulder for not giving him enough space. So a typically emotional Gasly again.
Magnussen: 5
Kevin Magnussen will have to ask how Hulkenberg can be so much faster. The Dane's weekend ended with a smoking engine, but he himself had not done much with his car up to that point either.
Ocon: 6
Esteban Ocon's race was ended early this weekend due to a problem with the car. There was little Ocon could do about that, but his weekend was certainly not strong. Indeed, Gasly was much faster on Saturday.