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Russian Grand Prix – Driver Ratings

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Russian Grand Prix – Driver Ratings

The Russian grand prix had a little bit of everything as Max Verstappen prevented another Mercedes 1-2 whilst Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez both got well within the points. Here we will go through each driver’s performance from last weekends race at Sochi.

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton – 7

As he chases Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 wins in Formula One, Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole position but suffered from two practice-start violation’s during the Russian grand prix which ended his hopes of getting that all important win at Sochi. P3 was all he could manage but Lewis fought well to get back onto the podium.

Valtteri Bottas – 8

Valtteri Bottas secured his 9th victory in Formula One last weekend – the Fin made a good start to the race but Hamilton’s two penalties did the job for him anyway.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen – 9

Verstappen was forced off track but recovered well on lap one and fought his way back to P3. Hamilton spent 10 seconds in the pit lane which paved the way for Max to take P2 – another fantastic drive from him after a disappointing weekend last time out.

Alex Albon – 7

Alex Albon qualified P10 but started the race P15 with a 5 place grid penalty for a gearbox change. After a poor start and a safety car, he soon found himself at the back of the pack but ended the race P10 after a great tussle with Lando Norris on lap 46.

McLaren

Carlos Sainz – N/A

Carlos Sainz was forced off track and hit the wall as he returned to the action on lap one – almost tacking out Sebastian Vettel in the process. That’s 2 DNF’s from 2 race weekends for the Spaniard.

Lando Norris – 6

It was a disappointing weekend for Lando Norris in Russia – he also had a bad start to the race and soon found himself in a midfield battle with Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly and George Russel near the end of the grand prix. He defended himself brilliantly against Albon and Gasly, but the tyre wear ultimately caught up with him and he fell out of the points.

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc – 7

Leclerc pitted much later than most drivers and climbed up towards the front of the group where he held his position until the end of the race and finished P6. Given how bad Ferrari have been this year, these were some well earned points for the team moving forward.

Sebastian Vettel – 5

Sebastian Vettel wasn’t able to replicate the success of his younger teammate and was unable to capitalise on the events unfolding ahead of him on lap one. He went wheel to wheel with Roman Grosjean on lap 42, but there were no points to be found for Vettel in Russia.

Racing Point

Lance Stroll – N/A

Lance Stroll’s race ended sooner than expected after he was clipped from behind by Charles Leclerc on lap one.

Sergio Perez – 8

As he closes out his time with Racing Point, Sergio Perez had a strong race and got past both the Renault’s to finish P4. Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon also finished behind him.

 

Renault

Daniel Ricciardo – 8

The Honey Badger got his head down after he received a 5 second penalty for a corner cutting incident in which he was intentionally allowed to overtake his teammate, but Ricciardo maintains his positive run of races with Renault and finished P5.

Esteban Ocon – 7

He lost places and was overtaken by Sergio Perez after a good race start, but Esteban Ocon also had a grand prix to be proud about. It was nothing too eventful, but Ocon came out of the pit lane just behind Hamilton and managed to finish the race P7.

Alfa Romeo

Kimi Raikkonen – 5

Kimi had quite an average race on Sunday – he qualified last in P20 and was forced to make his way past the two Williams. Norris suffered from tire wear near the end of the race which meant that he finished just ahead of the McLaren in P15.

Antonio Giovanazzi – 5

Giovanazzi also had a poor race weekend at Sochi and finished P11. He made a smooth overtake to get past Roman Grosjean on lap 41, but both the Alfa Tauri’s looked well off the points last weekend.

Alfa Tauri

Pierre Gasly – 7

Pierre Gasly saw much more action than the two Alfa Tauri’s throughout the race and as was caught up in the three car tussle on lap 46 as both him and Alex Albon tried to get past Lando Norris. Thankfully for him, he came out on top and finished P8.

Daniil Kvyat – 7

After he came out of the pits, Kvyat had to accept his position in P7 – unable to challenge those ahead. It was a promising race from the team as a whole though as they continue to climb their way up the constructors championship.

Haas

Kevin Magnussen – 7

Kevin Magnussen had the best start to the race out of any driver on the day as he made up 9 places within the first lap – moving from p19 to P8. The car let him down a little, but P12 was a decent result for Magnussen given the circumstances.

Roman Grosjean – 5

Roman Grosjean was unable to reach the heights of his teammate and ended in between the two Williams in P17.

Williams

George Russel – 5

George Russel showed us all once again what he’s capable of on Saturday afternoon after he qualified P12 in the Williams, but it was the car which let him down this week and he finished the race last in P18.

Nicholas Latifi – 5

Likewise, Nicholas Latifi struggled with the car and tire wear throughout the race – unable to get anything from the race weekend as a result.

 

We hope you enjoyed the article ‘Russian Grand Prix – Driver Ratings’. Who do you think will come out on top next weekend? Let us know!

 

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