F1 News
F1 Grades after Sakhir GP: It is raining failures, but there's a double maximum
The Sakhir Grand Prix was a real spectacle to watch with drivers and teams managing to amaze. However, there were also a number of drivers who dropped off the pace. These are the grades on behalf of GPblog.
Sergio Perez: 10
The winner of the Grand Prix, Sergio Perez. After lap one, chances of a good result seemed slim and no one saw his victory coming. A great achievement by the Mexican.
Esteban Ocon: 9
The Frenchman had some luck with his strategy, but kept his cool on Sunday and won a battle with Lance Stroll. It was the boost Ocon needed before the end of the season.
Lance Stroll: 7.5
Stroll was lucky with his strategy but is still unable to keep his teammate behind even after a spin. An excellent result, but the car deserves a much better driver.
Carlos Sainz: 8
Carlos Sainz just missed the podium. His strategy did not work out well, but he made some strong attacking moves on Valtteri Bottas.
Daniel Ricciardo: 7.5
Daniel Ricciardo also drove a strong race but, like Sainz, was unlucky with the strategy chosen by his team, which forced him to lose out in the race against Ocon.
Alexander Albon was again nowhere to be seen in qualifying and was unable to make up for this in the race. On a day where you need a second driver so badly, Albon never appeared. It is time for a change.
Daniil Kvyat: 8
In a weekend Yuki Tsunoda impressed, Kvyat shows just one more time how good he is. He has most likely lost his place in Formula 1 but reminds us of what he can do.
Valtteri Bottas: 5
Yes, he was indeed on pole, but if you've been driving that Mercedes for so long, it's actually shocking for someone who just got in the car can get so close to you. On Sunday, the Finn also made a mistake and showed this weekend that there are much better options for Mercedes besides Lewis Hamilton.
George Russell: 10
One of those options is George Russell. Russell deserved this victory. Yes, he certainly drove the best car, but for the first time, he handled it really well. It's a shame he didn't win the race, but he's clearly shown Mercedes that he deserves a place on the team.
Lando Norris: 6
Not the best weekend for Norris, but it has to be said that his weekend was hampered with a grid penalty.
Pierre Gasly: ​​6
Pierre Gasly had no answer to the fast Kvyat this weekend and eventually fell out of the points. So not a good weekend for the Frenchman.
On Saturday, Vettel was again far behind from Leclerc and on Sunday, Vettel could never recover that gap.
Antonio Giovinazzi drove a strong weekend in Sakhir. Unfortunately, a 13th place does not earn any points.
A weekend to quickly forget for Kimi Raikkonen, who already seems busy with his winter break.
Kevin Magnussen couldn't do much for Haas in Sakhir without his buddy Romain Grosjean.
Jack Aitken: 5.5
Jack Aitken was surprisingly close to Latifi on Saturday but made a huge blunder on Sunday.
Pietro Fittipaldi: 6
Fittipaldi did not come close to Magnussen all weekend but finished the race without any problems.
Latifi is not known as the fastest driver, but if Aitken almost beats you when he is called up as a replacement, then you can really start to question the qualities of the Canadian.
Max Verstappen had a strong qualifying session, but we will never know what could have been possible in the race. He was boxed in at the start and took little risk with his experience. It is, therefore, a shame that a wild action by Leclerc causes a DNF.
Charles Leclerc drove a phenomenal qualifying session by putting his Ferrari in fourth place, but he quickly cancelled out that good performance with a wild action in the first lap. He had already passed Max and also hoped to beat Perez. The race of Leclerc and Verstappen was immediately over, where Perez would miraculously drive to victory.
This article was written and originally published by Tim on the Dutch edition of GPblog.com.