Ratings | Did Verstappen and Russell foreshadow 2022 in Belgian qualifying?

Verstappen: 10

Max Verstappen did everything perfectly on Saturday. He stayed within the line for the entire qualifying session, to give it his all in the very last run. This time it was not only good enough for pole, but also directly for victory. Of course Verstappen would have preferred to race and pick up 25 points, but once again he is closing in on rival Lewis Hamilton.

Russell: 10

The man of the weekend was of course George Russell. The Brit proved once again that he should be the man next to Hamilton to get the chance at Mercedes. In his Williams, Russell was only slower than Verstappen and was faster than both Mercedes drivers. A unique performance.

Hamilton: 9

Lewis Hamilton was almost 2.5 seconds faster than his teammate on Saturday and of course, deserves the compliments for that. However, the Brit will be disappointed that he had to sit behind Verstappen, but especially behind Russell. It is the first real signal that Hamilton will have to work hard if Russell becomes his teammate.

Ricciardo: 8

Daniel Ricciardo secured a neat fourth place for McLaren, and with that, seems to have started the upward trend. The picture was slightly distorted though, as Lando Norris was much quicker than his teammate in Q1 and Q2. Ricciardo kept his car on the track though and was able to score points as a result.

Vettel: 9

Sebastian Vettel felt like a fish in the water in his Aston Martin. Besides impressing with his reactions to the Norris crash by seeing if he was okay, Vettel was also strong himself.

Gasly: 9

Pierre Gasly showed at AlphaTauri that he is the leader of the team. Yuki Tsunoda crashed out in Q1, while Gasly's P6 was good for points.

Ocon: 8

Esteban Ocon picked up three points after a strong qualifying session in the rain. Fernando Alonso didn't manage to get into Q3, but the Frenchman did.

Leclerc: 7.5

Charles Leclerc benefited from mistakes by Norris and Perez and the grid penalty for Bottas. As a result, Leclerc was still able to add two points at the end of this race. The man from Monaco's qualifying was not memorable.

Latifi: 8

Nicholas Latifi will of course be happy with his point after the Belgian GP. There was a big gap to Russell, but the Brit excelled in his Williams. 

Sainz: 6.5

Carlos Sainz was the last to benefit from all the mistakes and penalties. The Spaniard gets half a point after a poor qualifying session on Saturday, in which he was again slower than his teammate.

Alonso: 6

Fernando Alonso fell short of his younger teammate on Saturday. Alonso is the kind of driver you write off when it's raining, but perhaps that would only have been the case in the race.

Bottas: 5

Valtteri Bottas has been extra hurt by his penalty after Hungary this weekend. Now he didn't get the chance to get back into the top ten in Belgium at all. After his dismal performance in qualifying, however, one wonders if he would have been able to do so under these circumstances.

Giovinazzi: 7

Antonio Giovinazzi continues to present himself as the Alfa Romeo frontrunner, even if it's not all that convincing.

Norris: 6

Lando Norris was the fastest on track on Saturday and could have possibly chalked up a victory. The young Briton can forget about that after making a mistake at the start of Q3. A little too much risk ended his session.

Tsunoda: 5

Yuki Tsunoda was nowhere compared to his teammate at Spa-Francorchamps. He really needs to get smaller if he wants to keep his place.

Schumacher: 7

Mick Schumacher, even with his special helmet in honour of his father, couldn't perform a miracle in the rain. The Haas car is just too slow and undrivable.

Mazepin: 6

Nikita Mazepin again came up short of his teammate. The spins are barely noticeable on the Russian, but his speed has also taken a hit with that caution.

Raikkonen: 6

Kimi Raikkonen once again lost the duel to his younger teammate on Saturday. That he finished so far behind was due to a start from the pits for new parts.

Perez: 4

Sergio Perez missed out on three points on Sunday after a blunder before the race. On Saturday, Perez was already almost 2.5 seconds short of his teammate in Q3, which put him in seventh place for the race. However, Perez didn't get the three points that would have resulted, as he drove into the wall on the very lap to the grid.

Stroll: 5

Lance Stroll already had a grid penalty to contend with, but really gave away a good result in Belgium himself on Saturday. Where teammate Vettel drove to a fifth time, Stroll dropped in Q2. Of course, he blamed his team and not himself over the radio.