Team ratings: Red Bull in a class of their own after Styria

Column

28 June 2021 at 19:58
  • GPblog.com

It was a quiet Styrian Grand Prix and most teams actually got roughly the results they would've expected beforehand. There were not many high or low outliers with the figures.

Red Bull Racing 9.0

The first and only outlier of the weekend. Red Bull Racing, especially with Max Verstappen, did everything right in their home race. The only thing missing was a podium for Sergio Perez, who was perhaps brought in too late for a change of tyre towards the end of the race.

Mercedes 7.5

Mercedes didn't have such a bad weekend at all. A second and third place from Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas at least ensured the German team still stay close to Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship, but the team didn't have enough pace to attack Verstappen in Styria.

McLaren 6.5

Lando Norris certainly had a chance at the podium, but the cars seemed to be losing some power. This quickly relegated Norris to a place off the podium, and he was the only man who brought in the points for the team, as Daniel Ricciardo only finished 13th in a race he'd like to forget.

Aston Martin 5.5

After a number of strong weekends for Aston Martin, the team's performance in Styria was poor. Lance Stroll managed to score some points, but Sebastian Vettel was unable to do so.

Alpine 5.5

Alpine had an almost identical weekend to Aston Martin. One driver picking up a few points while the other was milling around in the back of the midfield. Fernando Alonso looked far better than Esteban Ocon.

AlphaTauri 7.5

This was the weekend where AlphaTauri had to score big points in a circuit that suits their car. Unfortunately, the team was stuck with just one point from Yuki Tsunoda. Pierre Gasly was unable to continue his run of points finishes after he was forced to retire after just one lap. 

Ferrari 7.0

Carlos Sainz made up for a poor qualifying session by finishing in sixth place, while Charles Leclerc did a hell of a job catching up after his early mistake. After the dramatic weekend in France, this was a welcome 14 points for the Scuderia.

Alfa Romeo 6.5

It was not the best weekend for the Swiss team, but they had signs of improvement. Kimi Raikkonen narrowly missed out on points in 11th place, whilst Antonio Giovinazzi also failed to score. The team lacked a little speed in Styria.

Haas F1 5.0

For Haas F1, there is no longer much to gain in 2021. All focus is on next year and they seem to be happy with that. In Styria the team did not show any improvement.

Williams 7.5

Finally Williams and George Russell seemed to have a chance to score. Russell drove for a long time in eighth place and even said afterwards that he could've fought for seventh place. Those six points Russell could have earned with that seventh place could have been incredibly important, but unfortunately the car broke down. A very unlucky weekend, but they did show speed with at least one of the cars.