Ratings after Spain GP | Verstappen losing out to 'perfect' Hamilton

Hamilton: 10

Lewis Hamilton had a surprise at the start, but otherwise drove a perfect weekend. The Brit was unbeatable in qualifying and was the best on his tyres on Sunday. He shows why he became world champion so often. Not just because of a fast car, but mainly because of his enormous talent.

Verstappen: 9.5

Max Verstappen didn't do much wrong this weekend. He came up just short of pole in qualifying, but made up for it at the start with some great overtaking. In the race, however, Hamilton handled his tyres better. With the fastest race lap, the damage was kept to a minimum.

Bottas: 6

Valtteri Bottas is doing his job for Mercedes. He qualified in third place, giving Mercedes a strategic advantage over Red Bull Racing. In the race, however, he didn't let Hamilton go past easily when he had to and at the start he allowed himself to be surprised by Charles Leclerc. So no miracle performance this weekend from the Finn.

Leclerc: 10

Charles Leclerc drove a perfect weekend in Spain. At his teammate's home track he showed who's boss at Ferrari. With a phenomenal qualifying and a great overtaking move in the third corner, the man from Monaco could smell the podium, but the Mercedes of Bottas proved to be a class of its own in free air.

Perez: 5

Sergio Perez drove to fifth place, but that could not help Verstappen. With an eighth-place finish in qualifying, he is currently unable to help Red Bull in the duel with Mercedes. In Imola and Portugal, we saw flashes of what he can do, but the Mexican really needs to find that extra gear.

Ricciardo: 9

Daniel Ricciardo finally seemed to get into his rhythm at McLaren in Spain. Whereas Friday's performance was poor, Saturday's session saw him get it going. He finished ahead of Lando Norris in qualifying and drove to a fine sixth place. Is this the beginning of his strong period at McLaren?

Sainz: 7

Carlos Sainz is a good second driver for Ferrari for now. The Spaniard did the maximum by finishing ahead of Norris and helping Ferrari get a lot of points. He probably would have hoped for a bit more compared to his teammate at home though.

Norris: 6

Lando Norris for the first time had no answer to his teammate in 2021. Norris had a perfect start to the season, with a podium finish and some great qualifying. In Spain the Brit was a bit disappointing.

Ocon: 7.5

Esteban Ocon has had some strong qualifying performances, but in the race, he fell behind the Ferrari and McLaren drivers. Compared to Fernando Alonso he is doing very well though, so he won't be unhappy.

Gasly: 6

A five second penalty for being too far forward on the grid. It's another one of those silly mistakes that Pierre Gasly often makes. He still drove to a neat tenth place in the end, but there seems to be so much more to that AlphaTauri car this year.

Stroll: 7

Lance Stroll fought long and hard for the points, but eventually had to give away tenth place to Gasly. A fine performance for the Canadian, who again finished ahead of his teammate.

Raikkonen: 7

Kimi Raikkonen has a good nose for points, but just can't seem to get them. In qualifying, the Finn lost ground on his teammate, but in the race Kimi showed he can do it.

Vettel: 6.5

Sebastian Vettel was in a good rhythm in Portugal, but in Spain he had to settle for a place behind his teammate. No huge mistakes by the German, but also no performance worthy of a world champion.

Russell: 7.5

George Russell drove another strong qualifying session and did everything he could in the race. Williams tried a daring strategy that saw Russell in the points for a while. It didn't work out in the end, but the Briton has been showing what he can do on a weekly basis.

Giovinazzi: 6

It was a comedy pit stop for Antonio Giovinazzi, who turned out to have a flat tyre. He lost a lot of time in the pits as a result, and could never recover that gap.

Latifi: 5

Nicholas Latifi is miles away from his teammate. The gap was already huge in 2020, and in 2021 the Canadian doesn't seem to be getting any closer.

Alonso: 6.5

It all looks nice for Fernando Alonso on Sunday, but on Saturday he's still too often behind his teammate, and on Sunday he ends up scoring no points either. It's not quite the dream comeback that the Spaniard must have been hoping for.

Schumacher: 7

Mick Schumacher seems to be bringing out the best in the Haas, but even that doesn't come close to points. The German is doing all he can do though, and that is really destroying his teammate.

Mazepin: 4

Nikita Mazepin was the first to be in the gravel trap again this weekend, and although he wouldn't have any other major incidents, the pace wasn't there at all. He was beaten in qualifying and in the race by his teammate.

Tsunoda: 5

Yuki Tsunoda impressed on his debut in Bahrain, but since then he's been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. This weekend he was again heard cursing on the board radio and after qualifying he suggested that Pierre Gasly might have a better car than him. The Japanese will have to learn a lot. On, but also off the track.