Verstappen and Bearman impress, Stroll faces the wall in Jeddah

Max Verstappen dominated the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, scoring his 56th F1 victory. Much attention was also paid to Oliver Bearman, as Carlos Sainz's replacement at Ferrari. See all GPblog's ratings here and check below for the intermediate standings.

Verstappen: 9

Max Verstappen was again fastest in qualifying and the race. The Dutchman did not pick up a fastest race lap, but that did not make his performance any less impressive. Nine wins in a row already.

Perez: 7

Sergio Perez did in Jeddah what he had to do. The Mexican should have been on the front row of the grid, but ended up driving his car to second place in the race. The five-second penalty for an unsafe release was his own fault, he revealed after the race.

Leclerc: 9

A strong performance from Charles Leclerc. After being outdriven by his teammate in Bahrain, he was more at one with his car in Saudi Arabia.

Piastri: 8

Oscar Piastri was too fast for his teammate and took a handsome fourth place. Behind Lewis Hamilton, the Australian lacked top speed but also some creativity in attacking.

Alonso: 8

Fernando Alonso briefly kissed the wall, but that did not stop him from a good fifth place for Aston Martin. Unfortunately for the Spaniard, like last year, he often has to pull the cart alone at the team.

Russell: 8

George Russell was again the stronger of the two Mercedes drivers this weekend, although he will have hoped for more than a P6 finish.

Bearman: 9

Oliver Bearman left a huge impression on everyone and everything on his debut in F1. Yes, it was a bit messy here and there and he let himself be trounced by Nico Hulkenberg, but is that allowed on your debut? Bearman exceeded expectations and definitely deserves a place in F1 based on this performance.

Norris: 7

Lando Norris still held off Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages, but hardly featured in the rest of the weekend.

Hamilton: 6

A lesser weekend for Lewis Hamilton who is badly troubled that his Mercedes is once again not competitive. On the straight, he clearly had more speed than Norris but never managed to convert that into a real attack.

Hulkenberg: 7

Nico Hulkenberg took full advantage of his teammate's sacrifice with a flawless race. A point for Haas will feel like a victory at this stage.

Albon: 7

Alexander Albon sustained damage early in the race after a duel with Magnussen and was slightly behind as a result.

Magnussen: 6

Kevin Magnussen deserves kudos for his teamwork. His defensive work allowed Hulkenberg to grab a point for the team. Yet Magnussen got into this position because of a lousy performance before that. Indeed, after a good qualifying session, he managed to kill his own race by colliding with Tsunoda and Albon, for which he received a total of 20 seconds worth of penalties.

Ocon: 6

Another colourless weekend for Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman is visibly fighting for what he is worth, but in the Alpine that is not much right now.

Sargeant: 5

Logan Sargeant does not yet seem to have made the desired step compared to last year. Again lagging far behind Albon in qualifying and therefore never a contender for points.

Tsunoda: 6

Yuki Tsunoda qualified rock solid, but was somewhat blown off in the duels in the race. The duels with Magnussen were particularly interesting. Magnussen sometimes goes over the edge, but Tsunoda should know that by now.

Ricciardo: 5

All in all, a bad weekend for Daniel Ricciardo. Again slower than his teammate in qualifying and in the race he couldn't fight either. His spin in the closing stages of the race was typical.

Bottas: 6

A colourless performance for Valtteri Bottas. Stake's team did not make the desired step forward over the winter.

Zhou: 5

Guanyu Zhou threw away his qualifying with a crash in FP3. This was always going to make things difficult in the race, especially after the team managed to screw up another pit stop.

Stroll: 3

After a mediocre qualifying, a mistake that Lance Stroll really shouldn't make now followed. A rookie can make a mistake like that, but not a driver already competing in his eighth season in F1. It's just not good enough for a team with Aston Martin's ambitions.

Gasly: n/a

Pierre Gasly was beaten in qualifying on Friday and only was able to do a single lap. Things are not looking up for the Frenchman for now.

GPblog's Ranking after Saudi Arabia