Verstappen feels Norris breathing down his neck, Ricciardo disappoints
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Max Verstappen took the Brazilian Grand Prix with ease. The Dutchman was again the best driver on the grid, although there were more positive outliers at Interlagos this race weekend. Check out GPblog's ratings here.
Verstappen: 9
Max Verstappen was the fastest man in qualifying, sprint race and Grand Prix. Only in the sprint shootout did Verstappen miss out on pole to Lando Norris. Sergio Perez surprisingly came close to the Dutchman. Otherwise, it was a dominant performance by Verstappen.
Norris: 8
Lando Norris needs to iron out the small mistakes to really threaten Verstappen. He (and the MCL60) is not as good on tyres as Verstappen in his RB19, but Norris is slowly closing in.
Alonso: 8
Fernando Alonso drove a very impressive weekend for Aston Martin. Give him a good car, and he drags out the maximum result. The fact that the Spaniard was behind his teammate in qualifying must have hurt for a while, but he more than recovered on Saturday and Sunday.
Perez: 6
Sergio Perez was somewhat unfortunate in qualifying, drove a good sprint shootout, but ultimately came up short in both races. In the sprint race, Perez was unable to connect with Norris and Verstappen. In the GP, he even squandered P3 in battle with Alonso. With the RB19, that still leans towards an inadequate performance.
Stroll: 7
In a mediocre season, Lance Stroll finally provides a highlight. In the races, the Canadian is ultimately beaten by his teammate, but Stroll was in good shape this weekend and can be especially pleased with his qualifying in difficult conditions.
Sainz: 6
Carlos Sainz takes the points again for Ferrari but does so in a weekend where he was slower than his teammate in every session. That he and not Leclerc scores points is more down to the team.
Gasly: 7
A strong weekend for Pierre Gasly in Brazil. Not faster than his teammate in every session, but he was faster when he needed to be.
Hamilton: 7
Lewis Hamilton was very strong on Friday and Sunday. The Brit did manage to keep his tyres strong, having learned from Saturday. Saturday did mark a dip in the Brit's weekend. There, Russell was overwhelmingly the better driver.
Tsunoda: 8
Yuki Tsunoda was the strongest AlphaTauri driver all weekend, scoring five very important points for the team. Only the spin in the GP is a blemish on his race. Without the spin, P7 would have been possible.
Ocon: 4
Esteban Ocon had a painful weekend. Not only was he slower than Gasly, but he also had the incident with Alonso. Alonso left little space but enough space. The fact that Ocon, even after the race, completely blamed Alonso shows what a bad loser he is.
Sargeant: 6
Logan Sargeant had a colourless weekend, eventually finishing just short of the points on Sunday.
Hulkenberg: 6
Nico Hulkenberg has yet to enjoy much of Haas' new updates.
Ricciardo: 5
After Mexico, Daniel Ricciardo was already being mooted as a new driver for Red Bull Racing. After Brazil that will be different. In the sprint weekend, the Australian was outclassed by his younger teammate and ended up empty-handed.
Piastri: 5
A weak weekend for Oscar Piastri. Interlagos is an unfamiliar circuit for the Australian, and a sprint weekend does not help in getting to know the track, but this weekend the rookie was simply too far off Norris' pace both in qualifying and in the races.
Russell: 6
George Russell drove a good Saturday but was very impatient behind his teammate on Sunday. First calmly saying he would not attack, but staying in the slipstream and burning up his tyres. So Russell made it his own fault that his tyres wore before Hamilton's.
Bottas: 6
Colourless weekend for Valtteri Bottas, although he was still faster than his teammate.
Zhou: 5
Guanyu Zhou will want to forget this weekend quickly. There was little honour to be gained here.
Magnussen: 5
Kevin Magnussen was already not having a good weekend until he also decided to squeeze off his teammate at the start of the GP. That ended in tears, as alongside his teammate sat Alexander Albon.
Albon: 6
Alexander Albon could do little about the crash in the GP. Before that, it had been a difficult weekend for Williams anyway.
Leclerc: 7
Charles Leclerc did everything right this weekend and was by far the best driver at Ferrari, but once again, fate struck. The Monegasque suffered technical problems and as a result could not even start the Grand Prix.