The most intense fought battle for the victory of the season took place at Singapore on a weekend when Red Bull did not have their same unstoppable pace they have enjoyed so often in 2023.
Instead, five drivers were in the hunt for victory on Sunday, in a slow-burn race where patience and strategy were the name of the game.
Here are the RaceFans driver ratings for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen – 8/10
Start: +1 place
Strategy: One-stop (H-M)
Finished: 5th (+3 places ahead of team mate)
- Complained of handling issues throughout practice, then knocked out of Q2 by Lawson
- Started 11th on hard tyres, passing Lawson off the line, then both Haas in early laps to run eighth
- Moved up to second staying out under Safety Car, then passed by cars behind on fresh tyres
- Sat sixth before pitting for mediums on lap 40, emerging in 15th
- Gained positions as cars pitted, then passed Zhou, Hulkenberg, Lawson, Piastri and Gasly
- Chased down Leclerc in closing laps but had to settle for fifth, three tenths behind at the flag
It was the most challenging weekend of the season for the runaway championship leader where he saw his record ten-win streak come to its end. However, there was little Verstappen could do about it as his Red Bull simply lacked pace across the weekend. While fifth seemed like a strong recovery, he was likely unlucky not to finish higher up due to the badly timed Safety Car. But even when his car wasn’t the best, Verstappen showed why he’ll soon be a three-times world champion.
Sergio Perez – 4/10
Qualified: 13th (-2 places behind team mate, +0.137s)
Start: Held position
Strategy: One-stop (H-M)
Finished: 8th (-3 places behind team mate)
- Struggled for pace all weekend with Red Bull’s balance problems
- Eliminated from Q2 in 13th, a tenth slower than team mate
- Started on hard tyres, suffering front wing damage when he hit Tsunoda at turn four
- Ran 13th in the early laps until jumping to fourth under SC
- Passed by cars on fresher tyres at restart to fall to seventh, including by Hamilton off track
- Fought to keep Alonso behind him before pitting for medium tyres and falling to last
- Gained places as other pitted, then overtook Zhou and Tsunoda to run 11th behind Albon
- Punted Albon into turn 13 to gain tenth but earned five second time penalty
- Passed Lawson for ninth, then gained eighth when Russell crashed, holding position despite penalty
For once, Perez could blame his car for why he was running in the midfield at Singapore. Suffering the same handling woes as his championship-dominating team mate, there was little shame in being knocked out 13th in Q2. However, he was a bit of a bully in the race, clashing with Tsunoda at the start and barging by Albon in the closing laps. Although he emerged from the pits in last place and recovered to eighth, he was half a minute behind Verstappen at the flag.
Charles Leclerc – 6/10
Qualified: 3rd (-2 places behind team mate, +0.079s)Start: +1 place
Strategy: One-stop (S-H)
Finished: 4th (-3 places behind team mate)
- Was on track for pole before error at turn 17 left him third on the grid.
- Started on soft tyres and jumped Russell into turn one, then managed gap to team mate ahead
- Lost places to Russell and Norris double-stacking in the pits under SC to restart sixth
- Overtaken by Hamilton at restart but passed Perez and Verstappen soon after to sit fifth
- Moved ahead of Mercedes under VSC but was caught and passed by both
- Dropped off pace dramatically in final laps as hards wore but just held off Verstappen for fourth
A weekend where Leclerc was overshadowed by his team mate, he also could have had a very different outcome had he not made a slight error on his final qualifying lap. Leclerc played his part well at the start by jumping ahead of Russell and then managing the gap to Sainz and keeping his softs alive. He was caught out a little by the traffic in the pitlane but picked off the Red Bulls with fresh tyres. He couldn’t keep the pace of Sainz ahead in the final stint and faded, luckily not being caught by Verstappen at the end.
Carlos Sainz Jnr – 9/10
Start: Held position
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: Winner (+3 places ahead of team mate)
- Fastest in final two practice sessions before storming to pole by 0.072s
- Held the lead off the line and controlled the pace at the front in the early stint
- Pitted for hard tyres under SC and pulled away from Verstappen at restart
- Continued to dictate the pace from Russell behind, then Norris
- Deliberately allowed Norris to gain DRS to help keep Mercedes at bay
- Secured first win of the season by less than a second after leading every lap
Sainz claimed his previous round at Monza was his best weekend in a Ferrari, but this was a special performance. On a weekend when five cars were in contention for victory, Sainz was the class of them all, going fastest in practice before converting that pace into pole. While he was hardly pushing for most of the race, he did no more than he needed to to execute his team’s strategy, and his racecraft in the final laps was very clever. In the closest race of the season, to take pole and lead every lap on the way to victory is worthy of a rare high grade.
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George Russell – 5/10
Start: -2 places (one later handed back)
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-M)
Classified: 16th (-13 places behind team mate)
- Just missed out on pole position to line up alongside Sainz on the front row
- Lost out to Leclerc off the line, then passed illegally by team mate who returned third to him
- Pitted under Safety Car for hards to sit third, passing Verstappen at restart to move second
- Ran within DRS range of leader before pitting for fresh mediums under VSC
- Rejoined fourth and chased down Leclerc before passing him
- Battled with Norris for second into final lap, then crashed out at turn ten after hitting wall
For a critical phase near the end of the grand prix, Russell looked like he was the favourite for the race victory. He had stormed to second on the grid in qualifying and ran third for the early phase of the race before sitting behind Sainz. When the VSC presented an opportunity, Russell took it and then drove at a controlled pace to chase down the leaders and save his tyres for the finish. He couldn’t get by Norris despite his efforts, before his race ended with an error he branded as “pathetic”. Sadly, that misjudgement undid so much good he had done every lap of the weekend prior to the last.
Lewis Hamilton – 6/10
Qualified: 5th (-3 places behind team mate, +0.429s)
Start: +2 places (gained illegally)
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-M)
Finished: 3rd (+13 places ahead of team mate)
- Beaten by team mate and Norris in qualifying to line up fifth on the grid
- Missed turn two and gained two places over Norris and Russell off track, later returning both
- Ran behind team mate until pitting for hards behind SC, restarting behind Leclerc in seventh
- Passed Leclerc, then both Red Bulls to move up to fourth, despite passing Perez off track
- Pitted with team mate for mediums under VSC, dropping to fifth
- Caught and passed Leclerc for fourth, then gained third on final lap after Russell’s crash
On a weekend when Mercedes may well have had their best opportunity of the season to fight for a victory, Hamilton put himself in a position to contest the battle for the win but wasn’t quite able to get everything together when he needed to. He was out-qualified by his team mate on Saturday, his antics at the first corner were rather silly and he should’ve been investigated for passing Perez out of track limits, but in a race all about patience Hamilton did what he needed to do to be in contention at the end of the race. Picking up a podium after his team mate crashed was a fortunate way for him to personally benefit from a missed opportunity for his team.
Esteban Ocon – 7/10
Start: +1 place
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: Retired (Gearbox – L43)
- Qualified eighth on the grid after being inside the top ten in Q1 and Q2
- Passed Magnussen at the start to gain seventh place where he ran behind Alonso
- Pitted for hards under SC and restarted ninth, continuing to follow close to Alonso
- Eventually passed Alonso with brilliantly opportunistic move to gain eighth
- Forced to pull off into retirement from sixth when gearbox suddenly failed
- Ahead of team mate in every timed session
A very strong weekend for Ocon where he was cruelly denied a likely points finish when his car let him down with 20 laps remaining. He had started strong by securing eighth on the grid in qualifying and gaining a place at the start, before biding his time behind Alonso. He showed great racecraft to pinch a place from Alonso after he attacked Perez and was on course for a strong finish before retiring. He was also the quicker Alpine driver all weekend.
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Pierre Gasly – 6/10
Qualified: 12th (-4 places behind team mate, +0.185s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 6th
- Eliminated from Q2 in 12th, unable to follow team mate through to final round
- Picked up a place passing Lawson at the start, then ran behind Hulkenberg in 11th
- Pitted for hards under SC to restart 12th, passing Bottas to run 11th behind Magnussen
- Gained a place when Magnussen ran wide, then a second when team mate retired
- Stayed out under VSC to gain sixth when Alonso pitted, but passed by Verstappen
- Ran in seventh but promoted to sixth by Russell’s last lap crash
Gasly’s Singapore Grand Prix weekend was a demonstration of the virtue of staying patient. Although he did not have the pace of his team mate over the weekend, Gasly managed his tyres well to make his one-stop strategy work and move him up into the points. He benefitted from mishaps for other drivers to gain many positions, but he kept his own race clean and reaped the rewards with a top-six finish.
Lando Norris – 7/10
Start: -1 place (later handed back)
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 2nd (+5 places ahead of team mate)
- Only McLaren driver to run with major aero upgrades all weekend
- Breezed through to Q3, then secured second row start in fourth
- Passed illegally by Hamilton at the start, eventually gaining back fourth and remaining there
- Pitted for hards under SC and overtook Red Bulls at restart to sit third behind Russell
- Moved second when Russell pitted and ran behind Sainz as Russell caught him behind
- Held off Russell with DRS from Sainz ahead to finish second despite clipping wall on last lap
Technically the closest that Norris has ever come to his first grand prix win, Singapore was a strong weekend for the McLaren driver thanks largely to the benefits of the team’s upgrades. Norris’s race was one of skilful management of his tyres and he held his nerve under intense pressure in the closing laps to keep Russell at bay to secure 18 well-deserved points.
Oscar Piastri – 6/10
Qualified: 17th (-13 places behind team mate, +0.419s)
Start: +3 places
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 7th (-5 places behind team mate)
- First time driving the Marina Bay circuit
- Ran without aero update provided to his team mate
- Eliminated from Q1 after being caught out by Stroll’s crash while being on track to improve
- Moved up to 14th at the start then pitted under SC for hard tyres
- Passed Bottas at the restart and followed Gasly up to seventh place
- Dropped one place when passed by Verstappen, then gained seventh when Russell retired
As was the case in Austria, Piastri’s performance needs to be considered in the context of him having a car that was not the same specification as his team mate and should never have been expected to match Norris’s pace. Piastri’s weekend was compromised heavily be Stroll’s crash at the end of Q1 but it could be argued he had left himself vulnerable to begin with. In the race, Piastri showed decent pace and made up ten places to finish seventh but only overtook one car on track to do so.
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Valtteri Bottas – 5/10
Start: -1 place
Strategy: One-stop (H-M)
Finished: Retired (Gearbox – L52)
- Just missed the cut in Q1 to be left 16th on the grid, but almost half a second quicker than team mate
- Started on hard tyres and dropped to 17th at the start, moving up to tenth behind SC
- Lost seven positions in two laps at the restart swamped by cars on fresher tyres
- Ran 17th before pitting for mediums on lap 40, dropping to the back of the field
- Sat 16th before told to pull off into retirement without making any more gear shifts on lap 52
Another challenging weekend for Bottas and his Alfa Romeo team where they simply did not have the pace of their midfield rivals to challenge for the points. Opted to start on the hard tyres and was caught out by the Safety Car coming out too early and he was bullied by his rivals on fresh tyres. Even though he was gaining on cars ahead in the final stint, he never got to fight them as his car let him down.
Zhou Guanyu – 5/10
Qualified: 19th (-3 places behind team mate, +0.449s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: Two-stop (S-H-M)
Finished: 12th
- Knocked out from Q1 in 19th, half a second slower than team mate
- Started from pit lane on softs after taking new power unit, then pitted for hards on lap two
- Ran last before pitting for mediums under Safety Car to restart 18th, then passed team mate
- Ran very long final stint on medium tyres but faded as the race progressed to
- Passed Hulkenberg for 13th on penultimate lap, then gained 12th when Russell crashed
An unremarkable performance from Zhou at a weekend when his future in Formula 1 was confirmed for the next season. His qualifying performance was underwhelming and his team chose to tactically take his fifth power unit of the season as a result. He tried a very risky strategy with a 42-lap stint on mediums which did not pay off, but he tried his best and finished ahead of three other drivers.
Lance Stroll – 3/10
Qualified: 20th (-13 places behind team mate, +0.813s)
Finished: Did Not Start (Crash – Q1)
- Behind team mate in all three practice sessions
- Sat slowest of all at end of Q1, then crashed heavily at final corner on last push lap
- Withdrawn from grand prix due to extensive car damage and soreness
Stroll’s weekend came to a sudden and violent early end on his final Q1 lap. While Aston Martin likely could have chosen to fix his car and get him on the grid if they wanted, the team and driver had their reasons for deciding he should not continue. Although his own mistake prevented him from racing, it’s hard to condemn him too harshly when it was not an especially egregious error but simply a case of pushing just a little too hard. Otherwise, it was a typical Stroll weekend of lacking the same pace as his team mate.
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Fernando Alonso – 4/10
Qualified: 7th (+13 places ahead of team mate, -0.813s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-S)
Finished: 15th
- Ahead of team mate in every session
- Easily reached Q3 in third then qualified seventh
- Moved by Magnussen at the start to run sixth in first stint before pitting under SC for hards
- Earned a 5s time penalty for running out of pit entry, running eighth before passed by Ocon
- Pitted for softs under VSC, serving penalty, but suffered slow stop with rear jack
- Rejoined last then lost more time with error at turn 14, eventually finishing last in 15th
An uncharacteristic Sunday for Alonso who finished out of the points for the first time in 2023. While his performance up to Sunday was perfectly decent, things started to unravel in the race when he ran out of the pit entry confines and earned a penalty. After losing more time with a botched pit stop under VSC, he had no excuses for missing turn 14 under braking and falling even further behind at the back. A sub-par performance.
Kevin Magnussen – 6/10
Start: -2 places
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-S)
Finished: 10th (+3 places ahead of team mate)
- Inside the top ten in all three qualifying sessions to secure best grid slot since Miami
- Dropped two places at the start, then passed by Verstappen to sit ninth ahead of team mate
- Restarted 11th after SC but passed Bottas, then shown warning flag for pushing Gasly off track
- Lost six places after mistake at turn seven, then pitted for softs under VSC
- Rejoined 14th, then passed Zhou, Albon and Hulkenberg to move up to 11th
- Gained the final point when Russell crashed out on the final lap
A rollercoaster of a weekend for Magnussen who secured his first point since the Miami Grand Prix. Unusually he was one of the stand-outs in qualifying, securing a top-six starting position, but expected to drop down the order in the race. He was a little messy in the race, pushing Gasly off at turn 16 and then two errors in three corners dropped him from tenth to 16th. But after fitting softs he was able to chase down cars ahead to be in a position to benefit from Russell’s crash and snatch a final point.
Nico Hulkenberg – 6/10
Qualified: 9th (-3 places behind team mate, +0.233s)
Start: Held position
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 13th (-3 places behind team mate)
- Followed team mate into Q3 but admitted his final push lap wasn’t “clean”
- Passed by Verstappen on lap two, then ran in train behind team mate in tenth
- Dropped to 15th after double-stacking in pits under SC, then ran behind Lawson
- Moved up to ninth before being passed by Verstappen, Albon and Perez
- Overtaken by team mate, Albon and Zhou in final laps to finish 13th
One of the rare weekends when Hulkenberg was not the leading Haas driver across the weekend, but he still put in a solid performance. He got his car into Q3 but couldn’t match Magnussen’s final lap, then was behind his team mate before he lost multiple positions in the busy pit lane, which he could do little about. He fought well despite his car’s heavy tyre degradation to make his hard tyres last but was a bit of a sitting duck at the finish. But despite the result he could be happy with his efforts.
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Yuki Tsunoda – 5/10
Finished: Retired (Damage – Lap 1)
- Impeded by Verstappen on first Q2 lap, then mistake at turn 14 on final lap eliminated him
- Started on softs and gained two places before being damaged by contact from Perez
- Fell down the order with a damaged car before pulling off into retirement
Tsunoda has endured his fair share of frustrating weekends in his Formula 1 career, but Singapore had to rank among the most infuriating. With major upgrades on his car, he was compromised by both Red Bulls over the weekend – first by Verstappen on his initial push lap in Q2, then was barged into by Perez on the opening lap, which led to his retirement. Although he was the victim in both instances, he only had himself to blame for his final Q2 lap error that meant he failed to follow his inexperienced team mate into Q3.
Liam Lawson – 7/10
Qualified: 10th (+5 places ahead of team mate, +0.224s)
Start: -2 places
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 9th
- First time driving the Marina Bay circuit
- Reached Q3 for the first time in his career by 0.007s to qualify tenth
- Dropped to 12th off the line and ran there until pitting for hard tyres under SC
- Ran between Piastri and Hulkenberg over second stint, then absorbed pressure from Albon
- Lost ninth place when overtaken by Perez with three laps remaining
- Gained ninth when Russell crashed to take his first career points
Once again, Lawson looked anything but a rookie in one of his first grands prix over the Singapore weekend, not making a single error of note outside of a harmless spin in practice. Other than another sub-optimal launch off the line which left him frustrated, Lawson kept his cool over the most mentally and physically demanded race of the season to put himself into a top 10 position and secure his team’s best result of the year and further stake his claim to be on the 2024 grid.
Alexander Albon – 6/10
Qualified: 14th (+4 places ahead of team mate, -0.584s)Start: -1 place
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-M)
Finished: 11th (+3 places ahead of team mate)
- Lost majority of second practice with battery problem
- Reached Q2 unlike team mate but eliminated 14th as slowest car to complete a lap
- Lost a place at the start to run just ahead of team mate in 15th
- Pitted under Safety Car for hard tyres and ran 15th before second stop for mediums
- Passed Zhou and Hulkenberg to move into tenth before being barged into the wall by Perez
- Dropped to 14th, the re-passed Zhou and Hulkenberg to finish 11th
Albon’s drive on Sunday was worthy of scoring a top eight finish but he missed out courtesy of being punted by Perez in a poorly-judged move at turn 13. Until that stage, the Williams driver was making good work of his team’s aggressive two-stop strategy and spare fresh set of mediums and did well to reclaim the positions lost after being shoved aside. Not his strongest performance of the season but certainly deserving of a top ten result.
Logan Sargeant – 4/10
Start: +2 places
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-M)
Finished: 14th (-3 places behind team mate)
- First time driving the Marina Bay circuit
- Ran with older-specification front wing all weekend
- Eliminated from Q1 in 18th after mistake at turn ten on final push lap
- Gained two places at the start to run 16th before hitting turn eight wall, damaging front wing
- Ran alone at the back after not catching the Safety Car restart
- Moved past Alonso after his off to finish less than a second ahead of him in 14th
Another weekend where Sargeant seemed to be threatening to put in a solid performance only for small mistakes to creep in and leave him ruing what might have been. He admitted he could’ve gone quicker in qualifying if it wasn’t for a mistake, then he hit the wall with a very odd unforced error under zero pressure, which ruined any chances of a respectable finish. A shame, when he was closer in pace to Albon than he has been at many circuits this season.
Over to you
Vote for the driver who impressed you most last weekend and find out whether other RaceFans share your view here:
2023 Singapore Grand Prix
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- Steward’s admission Verstappen should have had penalty frustrates his rivals
- Drivers back Singapore qualifying tweak as rule changes again for Japanese GP
- Piastri “much more comfortable” at new circuits than at start of rookie season
Jed
19th September 2023, 7:20
Genuine question, what more could Sainz do to earn a 10? Engine penalty, start at the back and win by a minute?
MacLeod (@macleod)
19th September 2023, 7:52
A 9 is extreme high with this ratingsystem but a 10 you have to start with a worse car then the one on pole and win.
melanos
20th September 2023, 1:55
Nobody knows what you have to do to get a 10 because AFAIK it has never being given. And I bet will never be given. JMF at the Nordschleife 1957 would probably get a 9 here.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
20th September 2023, 16:24
You have to win from last on the grid, in a backmarker car, during a rainstorm.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th September 2023, 8:42
I wonder how performances like perez at bahrain outer track in 2020, when he won with “force india”, would be rated, because he was starting very far back and he had a midfield car, wasn’t expected to win, defended well by russell in a much faster car and there was a decent possibility he’d have kept him behind, before russell had that puncture, but even then I’m not really sure that would be enough for a 10, after all the fastest cars (merc and red bull that race) all had some kind of issues.
Kringle
19th September 2023, 12:15
Totally agree Jed, I wondered exactly the same thing.
Giancarlo Stereotipo
19th September 2023, 12:35
Anti-Ferrari bias in play against a driver doing a perfect weekend.
Facts&Stats
19th September 2023, 14:22
I’ve seen other drivers (or rather ‘driver’) doing various perfect weekends this year, incl. FLAP, and he even struggled to get a 9 in most instances.
Johnny
19th September 2023, 17:42
Because the car, and a weak sauce teamate that couldn’t beat this ‘driver’ should he be forced to drive the car wearing mittens.
Todfod (@todfod)
19th September 2023, 7:31
Can’t agree with a lot of these ratings..
Norris should be 8, his weekend was nearly as good as Sainz’s. He maximised the Mclaren’s qualifying potential and didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend. He kept the quicker Mercs behind him as well.
Stroll should be a 1.. or 2 if we’re being generous. He would probably have qualified last on the grid even without his shunt. The car did have Q3 potential as shown by Alonso.
MacLeod (@macleod)
19th September 2023, 7:55
I don’t agree with you on the Lando part he never tried to attack Sainz during the race and only looked behind him a 7 is just right.
Lance should get a 1 trashed the car while he could save it. Racing isn’t putting the accelerator to the floor and keep it there.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
19th September 2023, 9:23
Stroll likely would already have done enough to at least get into q2 if not for sargeant impeding him.
MacLeod (@macleod)
20th September 2023, 7:37
That was possible but that is the hard part of Qualifly these things can happen.
Gerrit
19th September 2023, 7:49
Press in new Zealand is reporting that Lawson will be dropped in favour of Riccardo and the Honda moneyed Yuki Tsunoda.
Would Aston Martin drop Stroll or Williams drop Sargent for Lawson?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/liam-lawson-f1-seat-young-kiwis-future-in-doubt-after-reports-indicate-alphatauri-will-stick-with-current-drivers/5ZWZBBNNW5HODNJUEZKJ4DCJ7Y/
MacLeod (@macleod)
19th September 2023, 7:57
I think this is correct considering Lawson..
Astin Martin drop Stroll no never….
William could do that if they want to spend a lot of money to breakup his contract. But maybe a Albon style loan is possible.
Gerrit
19th September 2023, 8:11
Be interesting for when Albon and Lawson were team mates at Ferrari for the DTM, Lawson had the better of Albon on a number of occasions.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th September 2023, 8:32
This would reflect really badly on red bull, as he simply performed better than tsunoda at this point and 2023 ricciardo so far didn’t convince he’s any better than tsunoda.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th September 2023, 8:39
Gerrit
I’ll believe that lineup only if it becomes officially announced, but such an outcome would be questionable.
Tsunoda-Lawson should be a no-brainer given Ricciardo’s career stage, which differs vastly from them & is largely unfitting for Red Bull B-team’s primary purpose.
However, once again, Red Bull doesn’t choose drivers for their teams for external factors, so giving emphasis to Honda is pointless, especially as they aren’t even officially involved presently & will leave for AMR eventually anyway.
As for AMR & Williams concerning next season, no, because neither team has plans to sack anyone.
@macleod – The days of independent teams serving others are in the past, so he could become a Williams driver only by wholly leaving. Realistically in any case, Red Bull B-team or nothing.
MichaelN
19th September 2023, 9:49
Tsunoda has been much slower than Gasly for years, was only marginally quicker than De Vries (who Red Bull dumped unceremoniously and without hesitation), he was at least matched by Ricciardo who hadn’t driven in months and been dumped himself, and now Lawson is right on it scoring points and making it to Q3.
Tsunoda has a safe spot for sure. Well see how long the contract lasts, but he’ll be out of Red Bull and out of F1 the moment it ends.
MacLeod (@macleod)
20th September 2023, 7:41
@jerejj While i agree with you there are exceptions if look at Albon he was still with Red Bull when he went to Williams (sponsors on his helmet were Red Bull) and the year after they broke up consentual.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
19th September 2023, 8:40
Lawson Set To Retain RB Reserve Role would have been more positive.
Personally I feel another year in Super won’t harm.
He would be just as talented or more so in a year’s time, and even hungrier. Then two year contract with AT with perhaps a move to ORBR during that period. Contracts aren’t set in stone and RB may be still in a state of flux driver wise
I don’t say this as a derisive comment on ability. I really just don’t want to see him “de Vriesed”. Afterall it’s not that long ago he caused chaos on Super Formula, and that won’t sit well in F1.
Nice and easy and a long and successful F1 career.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
19th September 2023, 8:47
Well that was supposed to be a reply to Gerrit and said it was but it’s where it’s where.
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
19th September 2023, 14:06
The chaos he caused at Motegi was really unfortunate. Not like he deliberately turned into a driver. His team mate ran him wide and he lost it on a bumpy rumble strip sent him into the pack as he tried to collect the car.
I wouldn’t say Liam is a dangerous or wreck less driver. He makes bold moves that don’t always pay off, but that could be said of many great drivers over the years.
JA
19th September 2023, 8:27
Though I don’t disagree with the ratings given to Gasly, Magnussen and Bottas there is something wrong in the writeup. All three got forced off and all three suffered from it. Magnussen and Bottas both dropped down lots of places due to it and Magnussens “mistake” was a clear result of Gasly forcing him of on the prior lap.
How on earth does Sergeant get a 4 for qualifying that bad and hitting a wall, same goes for Stroll with a 3. Verstappen at 8 is also somewhat a joke down to some sort of favoritism. The stars of the show was Sainz, Ocon, Norris and Hamilton, but only one of them scores equal or better than Verstappen.
Beyond the ratings it was crazy to see the lack of performance from those going reds. Alonso and Magnussen both going wide as they apparently couldn’t get them to stick. They lost a lot of time those first 4-5 laps in contrast to those running om mediums.
Doggy
20th September 2023, 1:35
I agree with you that Verstappen’s score should not be 8, Probably 7. Maybe he got it because he had the most overtakes in the race.
But had Russel not crashed in the last lap, he would have justified Lewis’ current score.
Also, Norris should have gotten the same score as Sainz. Both drove brilliantly.
Doggy
20th September 2023, 2:17
Good observation from you @Esploratore.
Solid reasoning behind your statement.
Hope there were more people like you adding interesting POV to the table. Rather than spitting out toxic/bias messages.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th September 2023, 8:38
See, sainz 9 and alonso 4, there were people assuming sainz would’ve got 10 and alonso 7-8, accusing the writers of bias in the latter case, but when alonso has a bad race he actually gets a bad score, like everyone.
And 10s are reserved for historic performances, not saying that’s how I’d do it, just trying to predict how this system works.
This is only the 3rd driver and individual race in over 1,5 years of this rating system where a 9 is given, so you can expect 2 9s a year and probably a 10 for the best performance of the last 5 years or something like that.
As for these rankings, I feel like perez is often a bit too low, see how he’s always at the bottom of the average rankings and he gets a 4 even when his race is not a disaster considering the circumstances? That’s my feeling this race weekend and also the previous one, while verstappen had a good race I think 4 is too much of a difference between the 2.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
19th September 2023, 10:41
This.
I’m also not against having rare 9s and exceptionally rare 10s, considering performances like Senna at Monaco in ’84 would be worth a good 10.
MichaelN
19th September 2023, 12:13
Verstappen is a bit inflated, agreed. It was still a solid race, keeping himself out of trouble and doing a much better recovery than last year, and he had some bad luck with the timing of the safety car, but also gained a few spots because guys like Russell and Ocon failed to finish. Reads more like a 7 than one of the better performances of the year.
Pérez was the opposite; he made contact multiple times, was slower, and finished way down. A failing grade seems fair enough considering the Red Bull was pretty good in the race.
Facts&Stats
19th September 2023, 14:34
The problem here is that Sainz had a great weekend, but this was not even close to one of the three best drives over the past year and a half.
Good quali, solid start, relying on the team to cruise for most of the race, and superb defending by using Norris over the final laps.
Solid race, but nothing spectacular.
melanos
20th September 2023, 2:04
Yes, on Sunday Huhhii was asking how would Will Wood explain giving Fred the customary 7-8 this weekend. I predicted 5 (considering thing beyond Fred’s control like a dog of a car and an awful pitstop). Well it was a 4, fair enough. Very uncharacteristic bad drive from Fred. But I reckon the usually high scores he gets are well earned, and seeing how he is chastised when his driving is subpar only reinforces my conclusions.
Doggy
20th September 2023, 2:19
Good observation from you @Esploratore.
Solid reasoning behind your statement.
Hope there were more people like you adding interesting POV to the table. Rather than spitting out toxic/bias messages.
*sorry posted the other comment on the wrong place
Jere (@jerejj)
19th September 2023, 8:43
Most impressed: SAI, NOR, PIA, LAW, & MAG
Most disappointing: PER, SAR, & ALO
Fritz
19th September 2023, 10:13
Alonsos words keep coming to from few races ago! “From here its all podiums”.
Different characters Lewis and Alonso! When Alonso overtakes Lewis he immediately follows with a snide comment. When the reverse happens its the commentator talking for Lewis.
slowmo (@slowmo)
19th September 2023, 8:52
Verstappen a 8, seriously? Hamilton qualifies down one place on where his car was probably capable and yet finished on the podium and gets a 6. First he was pushed wide at turn 2 and avoided taking any damage and minimised the impact on his race by giving back the places, that is hardly a huge error. Funny how Hamilton was the only one fortunate from Russell’s retirement but somehow that critique was missed on Verstappens review where he benefitted from Ocon AND Russell retiring otherwise he’d have finished 7th which is where RBR predicted for his race.
I picked out Hamilton because it’s becoming more apparent every week that the ratings for him are always overly harsh and not at all in line with other drivers.
Incidentally a 4 for Perez is very generous given his very poor qualifying and him crashing into 3 cars throughout the race. A 3 for Stroll also seems silly given he ended his own weekend early with a driving error.
Ferdinand
19th September 2023, 13:02
The difficulty is to look through the car and focus on driver performance but somehow take the level of performance of the car into the equation. Max did a good job given the car this weekend, that last stint was impressive given the difficulty of overtaking here. Lewis was to be fair trailing his team mate the whole weekend and did have a car that could have won here, but just never got thing together. If I analyse especially the last 5 races I am convinced that RB is not better anymore than the Mercedes and Ferrari. It is mostly Verstappen that makes the difference (Perez hasn’t done much at all apart from his two wins at the start of the season – it’s not like he easily follows Max to take an easy 2nd place) and not so much the car in the second half of the season.
CP
20th September 2023, 0:25
Hahahah the Redbull not better than the Merc and Ferrari. Please tell me what you are smoking my friend. This just gets betters and better.
melanos
20th September 2023, 2:10
Not this weekend, certainly. Marina Bay is an outlier and has always been unforgiving for RBR and Max. And if the antiMax brigade had the power the invoke the safety cars at will, they could not have done a better job that what really happened.
Ferdinand
20th September 2023, 7:08
There is more to F1 than just parroting narratives of stakeholders. It pays off to do some analysis yourself from time to time and also include opinions of people coming from another angle (like Brown and Vasseur for instance).
GechiChan (@gechichan)
20th September 2023, 16:34
This race it was clearly not the best car. If Lando openly admitted he had a laugh at the way RedBull’s car looked in qualy, you better believe this was a dog of a car. This track never suited their strengths in recent history.
Dantera87
19th September 2023, 16:52
Mercedes had the quicker car of the field. Hamilton could have won has he not binned qualy. So yeah, massive underachievement by Hamilton, as this was his race to lose.
Verstappen on the other hand maximized the car’s performance, and would do even better if it wasn’t for those SC and VSC periods.
CP
20th September 2023, 0:24
100% this,
Hamilton held to a different standard….we all know why, quite clear the prejudices by the writer of these ratings week on week.
melanos
20th September 2023, 2:06
Who usually rates Sir about 4 points more than it is worth, only today it was 5 points
Ferdinand
20th September 2023, 7:13
Which underlines the difference in way people perceive things. To me personally this is the first time I feel Lewis is rated neutrally/objectively as before I strongly had the feeling he was being favoured and received rather (too imho) high ratings. I guess we all wear our own tinted glasses.
Dan
19th September 2023, 8:58
Harsh on Russel!
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
19th September 2023, 9:28
It isn’t at all harsh. Every bit of good stuff about his race and qualifying should no longer count after a mistake like that. You basically could say perez did a better job as at least he finished and got points. Russell should get a 3 imo as he was the only driver to take himself out of the race.
Fritz
19th September 2023, 10:06
Not all! Live like lion, Die like a lion! Or should i say you earn what you keep! Also i like Russel! He is exciting to watch.
Lewisham Milton
19th September 2023, 20:38
Same result as Stroll.
(or is it Strol?)
F1 frog (@f1frog)
19th September 2023, 9:28
I think Max Verstappen’s score is generous. The Red Bull was difficult to drive but do we really know that it was that uncompetitive in qualifying? Verstappen totally messed up the first corner of his lap, costing him maybe half a second, and then finished just 0.007s off Lawson for Q2. If he had got that lap right he would have been in Q3 and his Q1 pace suggested he could be close to the front if not on pole. And Perez missed out too, of course, but he spun on his final flying lap and also probably could have made it otherwise. Verstappen recovered very well but I don’t think it was worthy of an 8, higher than some of his dominant performances.
I agree with Carlos Sainz getting a rare 9. That was the best drive since the start of 2022. Would still be interested to see examples of drives getting a 10.
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
19th September 2023, 10:21
@f1frog agreed, I think an 8 is generous. I was particularly interested in the driver ratings this weekend to see how the author would judge Verstappen, on the occasion that he did not have a car to top all competitive sessions. Because I feel that car bias is an inherent problem with ranking drivers performances: we can never know if a driver in the midfield is doing a worse job than the guy driving the best car, but he typically gets scored a point lower.
Another bias I see in the rating is that if a driver is considered good, he gets a higher score just for being that good driver. I’ve felt that way about Alonso’s score often (he’d gotten quite a lot of 8-scores, though not his time), and it seems Max’s 8 is similar: he made no mistakes (though actually qualifying could be classified as under-performance at the least) so he must have done a very good job – the prerequisite of course for getting the high score is that the team mate is way down the order – as Perez and Stroll often are.
Conversely, consider Hamilton’s scoring over the past two seasons. Two years ago there was little to choose between him and Verstappen (in my opinion, at least), but since that time he has gotten a worse car and a more competitive team mate, and his average score this season is more than 1.5 less than Verstappen’s. I’m not saying all Hamilton’s lower scores have been undeserved, but I don’t believe he his that much slower than two years ago, that Verstappen would be racking up 8s for most weekend, where Hamilton has barely any 8-scoring weekends (I did not check, btw).
Martin (@f1hornet)
19th September 2023, 11:30
I agree, was Max’s performance really equal to all those weekends this year where he got a pole and a race win and scored an 8? Given Sergio got a 4, but wasn’t that far behind him in qualifying and race result, a 4 point difference seems rather big. Max was a 6 or 7 for me. He did a decent job, but didn’t particularly outperform an admittedly ordinary car.
Dantera87
19th September 2023, 16:56
Oh no he had an oversteer moment in a car that was undriveable on saturday! Quick, give him a 5 >:(
It’s WIDELY available on the internet the reasons why Red Bull had such an atrocious qualy. That if he didn’t have that oversteer momment that would mean he was keeping it safe and would be even lower on the grid. Heroic effort.
MacLeod (@macleod)
20th September 2023, 7:52
The first corner that was the problem with the car the front didn’t engage as the car couldn’t get the right temperature in the front while the rears were overheating… Then you know the first sector isn’t going to be very good…….
But in the race you saw that again after the safetycar those hard (worn) both couldn’t get them in the right window anymore and were past if it was nothing. But when switch to the medium you could see a race pace equal like Mercedes and Max started to over take a lot of people.
If both safety cars were in Max favour he would be right in the fight for the podium but hasn’t the luck to have that.
MadMax (@madmax)
19th September 2023, 9:29
Those ratings become a joke more and more. Just to satisfy the majority of the fans? So stupid.
Jay
19th September 2023, 10:06
These ratings are inflammatory to increase engagement and clicks. And it works because these are my favourite posts and comments! The users ratings are even more comical than the authors. I can’t wait for next weeks edition!
Fritz
19th September 2023, 10:00
@Slowmo
I am thinking the same thing. It doesn’t add up! He sits third in the wdc in a upward momentum with ratings lower than Albon, Norris, Alonso. He just overtook Alonso? Whats going on with the ratings?
Mercedes have imho had the most horrid car on the grid. Lewis fighting, correcting and wrestling the car looks like Senna in Monaco in a the 90! Thats not how modern cars are supposed to work!
Redbull has the best car. Mercedes has been on average the third best car. W14 has bad top speed, difficult to defend with and hard to overtake with. Its very good on tires but hard qualify well with it. The drivers sit furthest ahead in the car in stark contrast with the Redbull who sit furthest back best connected to the back wheels.
This side of the 2021 i would love and appreciate if @Racefans could review themselves if they feel that they are being objective to their own standards.
Personaly i feel the ratings are off for Hamilton. I dont expect perfection but i do expect fairness.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
19th September 2023, 10:45
Sorry but just no, both cars were contending for the victory.
slowmo (@slowmo)
19th September 2023, 15:09
How many laps have Mercedes lead this year?
Ferdinand
20th September 2023, 7:19
They dropped the ball before but not to the extent they did in Singapore.
Fritz
19th September 2023, 16:13
@spoutnik
Exactly contending! Not achieving victory! Why is that?
O'Ray
19th September 2023, 10:36
8 for Vestappen that didnt make it to the top 10 hmmm a reign check on kissing Max Vestappen arse has to take place
Dantera87
19th September 2023, 16:56
We are not rating the car here, genius.
Hotbottoms (@hotbottoms)
19th September 2023, 11:26
Russell 5 and Hamilton 6 doesn’t seem right to me. Either Russell should be lower or Hamilton higher.
Sure, Hamilton should’ve qualified better, but even before Russell’s crash he was just behind Russell and arguably much quicker. Then Russell crashed and Hamilton collected 16 championship points more. Russell probably had the fastest or second fastest car of the weekend and still got 0 points due to his own mistake.
MichaelN
19th September 2023, 12:02
Agreed, the gap between the two doesn’t reflect the difference in performance between them.
Hamilton may have disappointed in qualifying, but had the kind of solid race you expect from a champion. And this despite being pushed off twice, both times without the offender even being investigated. Passed Leclerc and Verstappen, showed better pace in the end and might have had a go at Norris had he not been stuck behind his teammate who wasn’t doing much with the tyre advantage.
Thanks to his better qualifying Russell had an excellent chance to win, something his own team principal admitted. Yet he scored zero points because he put his car into the wall by himself. That’s hardly just below average; that’s bad. And it’s not the first time this year either, as he also put himself out of the race whilst in 4th in Canada.
Dantera87
19th September 2023, 16:57
“Sure, Hamilton should’ve qualified better”
There you have it. A 6 it is.
MadMax (@madmax)
19th September 2023, 21:54
That means Verstappen needs to be rated at 5 or lower then.
Ferdinand
20th September 2023, 7:25
So for Lewis we should take the car into consideration when it is bad, but conveniently not when it is good? And for Max we can just default on him having the best car out there (beside the fact Perez doesn’t seem to experience the same – but for that there is another conspiracy narrative available of evil Newey just catering the car to Max)? I will take that into consideration when reading your comments.
osnola
19th September 2023, 11:30
It’s the first time I actually agree with these scores .
Sainz deserved his 9
Maybe Lawson deserved an eight but that’s debatable.
Verstappen did great with a bad car and made some excellent passes doing so .
The fact the by far fastest car did not win (not even by cutting corners) is enough reason to degrade the Mercedes points.
Ferdinand
19th September 2023, 13:06
I agree Mercedes was the best car and should have forced (similar to what Max did in Monza) the Ferrari’s into destroying their tires to subsequently take the win with either Russell or Lewis.
Fritz
19th September 2023, 16:36
Hard to quantify Ver, Redbull got hurt by the safety car but then Sainz kept the grid bunched up allowing Max to catch up. Then Alonso aided Max by not getting past Perez. Leaving cars behind Alonso on the backfoot. Then Perez was sacrificed for Verstappens benifit.
His 8 rating makes 0 sense. Furthermore thats the best car out there by a mile. If a top driver does not take it from last to 5th with atleast 85 % their own ability. Then that 8 rating crediable as styrofoam soaked in alcohol.
Max “jesus” Verstappen is getting atleast 2,5 plus added on the ratings. But you know what Osnola? Someone has to get that privilege!
BTY your handle keeps me thinking of emptying mucus and forgetting why? Hhmmmm
Dantera87
19th September 2023, 17:09
LOL, get a load of this midwit
BasCB (@bascb)
19th September 2023, 11:40
Isn’t it a bit absurd that Stroll, who really didn’t achieve much more than crashing from last and ending his own weekend gets only 1 point less than Perez who – as the text admits – had exactly the same badly handling Red Bull his teammate had and qualified only a bit over a tenth slower.
During the race, it was Perez job to give Verstappen as much time as he could, which he did really well, and it seemed that his tyres were holding up slightly better than Max managed despite having a train of cars pushing him, until the fighting of faster cars on fresher tyres got the better of him and the team pitted him?
So what am I missing here? And Verstappen did an 8, performing better than Russel (yeah, he DID drop it at the crucial moment, that makes sense), than Norris and than Lawson? Why, how?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th September 2023, 22:44
Yes, I agree, as I pointed out earlier, perez is being too often underrated here, I can believe he ends up ranked among the worst drivers if he gets 4 instead of 6 so often.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th September 2023, 22:45
Definitely there should be less difference between the 2 red bulls here, I think 7 and 5 would’ve made sense.
baasbas
20th September 2023, 16:04
@esploratore1
Yes that sounds better to me. There is still 2 full points between them, seems more fair like this
Dex
19th September 2023, 12:34
Can you tell me how did Stroll exactly earn two extra points (compared to 1, which I assume is the minimum)? Is there any positive in his performance? Even his own excuses actually prove that his mistake wasn’t a mistake, but foolishness and selfishness towards the team, utter carelessness mixed with incompetence. Plus putting the blame on weighbridge (!?), something every driver goes trough sooner or later, but they usually don’t destroy their cars afterwards. I mean, how is this not a zero, and how is it even higher than two? Is 3 the lowest possible rating here or am I missing something? I’m really asking.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th September 2023, 22:43
I’m pretty sure there’s been a 2, think de vries got it earlier this year, should check all of them. I think 1 is the minimum, with 0 not existing and probably, like 10s, the 1 is reserved for really exceptional performances, the worst race performance of the last 5 years, stuff like that.
9 and 2 are really rare, I noticed.
Tiaki Porangi
19th September 2023, 12:43
These ratings are so far off the mark that they’re a joke. Max 8/10? Lewis 6/10? What race were you watching??
BasCB (@bascb)
19th September 2023, 15:23
I tend to see it a bit as being the focus of boosting discussion about how drivers did, bringing up interaction between readers. So in that sense they work every time – hardly anyone agrees they make much sense, and there tend to be a lively discussion how far off they are and exactly for what driver.
I guess when you treat them as subjective, any number really will do to serve that purpose!
Ben
19th September 2023, 17:41
+1
It’s beyond transparent that this whole article is just clickbait now.
Verstappen an 8. Seriously? He was under investigation for 3 poor driving offences in qualifying and didn’t even make Q3!
A driver who gets 2 reprimands for bad driving getting a higher score than most of the grid!
Hamilton a 6 for for getting a podium!
Norris less than Verstappen!
Lawson less than Verstappen! He was the top RedBull on Saturday and he’s only at his 3rd F1 race. Only 1 point behind Tsnoda in the standings now too.
Madness. Unless the whole point is to gain article clicks of course… here have an additional 10p for my comment. Hope it was worth any journalistic credibility you had left. Pathetic.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th September 2023, 22:41
Yes, verstappen could’ve got 7, there wasn’t a lot of pace in quali in the car, but I think 8 is exagerated in relation to hamilton, even considering hamilton’s quali underperformance.
Edvaldo
19th September 2023, 13:24
Max should be 7. Maybe 6. 8 is too much. He had the car under him on race day and did a good enough job.
If he had passed Leclerc 8 would be fair.
dot_com (@dot_com)
19th September 2023, 13:30
I have to stop reading these…
RR
19th September 2023, 13:59
6 for Piastri does not match his epic drive 17th to 7th on a track like SingSing. We are talking about a future champ for RB or possibly Ferrari if Max will not have him as team mate. (I have to declare now that I am already a committed Piastri fan :) )
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
19th September 2023, 17:55
Did Lewis need to yield the position to Norris at the start of the race? I thought McLaren was reaching a bit asking for that position back.
Stephen Taylor
19th September 2023, 21:18
Yes he did.
Stephen Taylor
19th September 2023, 20:24
Except for Sainz and Lawson these ratings are all over the place. Albon and Norris are one mark too low as well. Norris had the third best car on the track yet you score him lower than Verstappen who didn’t finish in an exceptional position even considering RB’s struggles this weekend. Hamilton should also be a mark higher too. Wake up Will Wood.
Stephen Taylor
19th September 2023, 21:16
Even Edd Straw from The Race has better ratings.
Stephen Taylor
19th September 2023, 21:17
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th September 2023, 22:35
Actually edd straw’s ratings are very very fair, I found, many comments there accuse him of british bias, but when he had to give hamilton a 4 he gave it and so on, seemed not biased at all to me.
Carlos Grande
19th September 2023, 20:39
Why don’t you better remove Perez from the ratings, it’s always bad, if he crashes, if he pushes, if he falls behind, you just need to rate him because it rained!!! or because he spoke badly to Russell…clown
stjs16 (@stjs16)
19th September 2023, 21:25
No! How can Max be ahead of Lando and Carlos not get 10/10!
Fritz
19th September 2023, 22:48
No he did not do a good joob at all, he was so distraught this weekend that he infringed apon the rules 3 times!!! Everybody expected penalties!
But lo and behold! As sure as Jesus walks on water! So does Max! What the blip, just happned? Does anyone feel Max that Maxes brainfarts are reflected in the rating
Because i feel those antics are really silly.
What Max experienced in practice and qualy was Mercedes deal with every eace weekend and Max/Redbull came smeling like ,,,,, Redbull.
Fritz
19th September 2023, 23:16
@Willwood
Did Max really show he will soon be 3 time Wdc?
Just the fact that Max was handed the opportunity to win by whats his name again???? Oh yeah Michael ” i will do it my way! Is that ok CH?” Masi. And then Redbull procedeed to cheat.
I digress Will Wood. My question is when you write 3 wdc behind Verstappens name, do you believe in it? Do you feel he has earned it? Do you feel this guy earned the 2021 by beating his opponents hands down. By skill and not Spa, not brasil, not the broken Mercedes wing, not having Alpha tauri and Perez, not breaktesting, not cheating via costcap, not excluding Dr Helmut “AKA the racist” Marko from the budget and benifitting extra since Redbull earn 150 million more just for showing up. The only other team is Ferrari earning 200 mil..
Is Formula 1 a con? I ‘am dreaming or maybe i have Aspergers? I write this stuff down so that when the boot changes foot i can come crap on you. Meanwhile keep defending this cespool nareitive like its apartaid.