Ratings | Red Bull had the best and worst driver in Japan
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The Japanese Grand Prix was dominated by Max Verstappen. The Dutchman took his 13th win of the season. In the background, there were a few drivers who may stand in Verstappen's shadow, but also quite a few drivers who made some missteps.
GPblog Ratings for the Japanese Grand Prix
Verstappen: 9.5
Max Verstappen was the strongest driver in Japan. In qualifying, he was seven-tenths faster than his teammate, and in the race, Verstappen was dominant. The only 'mistake' Verstappen made was at the start. He admitted to having some wheelspin but quickly recovered from the mistake at the first corner by keeping Norris and Piastri behind.
Norris: 8
Lando Norris was surprisingly beaten by his rookie teammate on Saturday, but the Brit put things right in the race. Norris had a good start, then some bad luck with the virtual safety car situation behind Perez, but still managed to overtake his teammate again.
Piastri: 7
Oscar Piastri was very strong on Saturday and started a Grand Prix from the front row for the first time. The Australian still needs some work on his race pace, but the fact that he mentions it immediately after his first podium in F1 says enough about this still-young driver.
Leclerc: 9
Charles Leclerc was beaten by his teammate for several weekends in a row but was back on track in Japan. Three-tenths faster in qualifying and also considerably faster than Sainz on Sunday.
Hamilton: 7
Lewis Hamilton was faster than his teammate on Saturday and Sunday, but Hamilton's performance was not very solid. The Brit made mistakes several times over the weekend, creating unnecessary tension with his teammate.
Sainz: 6
After two strong weekends, Carlos Sainz was clearly the inferior of the two Ferrari drivers in qualifying and race pace in Japan.
Russell: 6
George Russell was inferior to his teammate this weekend and visibly struggled a bit. Especially on Sunday, Russell sought confrontation with his team on several occasions. However, Russell did not show enough on track to gain any preferential position within the team.
Alonso: 7
Fernando Alonso had a solid weekend in Japan. The Aston Martin was not fast enough to challenge the drivers of the top teams at Suzuka. Alonso made the most of it.
Ocon: 6
Esteban Ocon was less strong in Japan this weekend, but still ended up ahead of his teammate after a team order. Besides, Ocon himself was guilty of the crash on the opening lap. Perhaps he did not see the drivers on the left, but he did steer out very aggressively with all the consequences considered.
Gasly: 7
Pierre Gasly was the better driver at Alpine all weekend, but was ordered by his team to let Ocon move ahead on the final lap. Gasly himself was outraged by this team order, and rightly so considering his performance.
Lawson: 7
In the weekend, when it became clear that there was no place for Liam Lawson at AlphaTauri in 2024, the New Zealander performed quite handsomely. He was beaten in qualifying but drove a strong race and fought some nice duels with his teammate.
Tsunoda: 7
Yuki Tsunoda had hoped for more at home but struggled enough this weekend to stay ahead of his rookie teammate. He managed to do so on Saturday, not again on Sunday.
Zhou: 6
Guanyu Zhou had some bad luck at the start when he picked up damage from the crashes in front of him, but the Chinese driver had a weekend to forget anyway.
Hulkenberg: 6
In an event where Haas would struggle to get to points anyway, Nico Hulkenberg was the weaker of the two Haas drivers this weekend.
Magnussen: 7
Kevin Magnussen drove a strong weekend at Suzuka. Finally faster than his teammate again on Saturday and also going strong on Sunday until Perez made an overambitious overtaking move.
Albon: 7
Alexander Albon sustained too much damage on the first lap in an incident he was not to blame for. Otherwise, Albon was, again, clearly the best Williams driver.
Sargeant: 3
Logan Sargeant continues to pile up mistake after mistake. In qualifying, he wrote off yet another Williams only to crash with Bottas again in the race. Before this, he still blamed Bottas, but of course, the American himself had to make a braking action.
Stroll: 5
Lance Stroll was again two-tenths slower than his teammate on Saturday and, therefore, out in Q1. Stroll seemed to be on his way to the points in the race but dropped out due to a crooked rear wing.
Perez: 1
Sergio Perez did everything wrong this weekend. In qualifying, he was a whopping seven-tenths slower than his teammate. He ruined his start in the race, got in Norris' way during the VSC, overtook Alonso when entering the pits during the safety car and ruined Magnussen's race.
Bottas: 6
Valtteri Bottas found himself in a sandwich going towards the first corner. He suffered damage from this. The Finn continued on his way, but Sargeant completely ended his race.