Azerbaijan GP driver ratings: The worst weekend for Max Verstappen in six years?

mahb𝐆x.com's F1 driver ratings following an exciting Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen

Oscar Piastri - 10

Piastri delivered a masterclass in Azerbaijan to t𝔉ake his second career victory. His overtake on L🦂eclerc was stunning, while his defending for the rest of the race was exemplary. 

Charles Leclerc - 9

Leclerc produced yet another perfect pole la🦩p in Baku. For the first part of the race, 🏅it looked like it was going to be a comfortable afternoon for the Monegasque, building a five-second lead. The Ferrari looked less comfortable on the hards, losing out to Piastri into Turn 1 later on. He was unable to get back ahead before being put under threat by Perez and Sainz behind in the closing laps.

George Russell - 8.5

Russell extracted the maximum from the Mercedes in Azerbaijan. Fifth on the grid was followed up by a slightly fortunate💛 podium finish. He did overtake Verstappen on track as well.

Lando Norris - 8

Norris was unfortunate to ge🦄t knocked out in Q1 with the timing of the yellow flag. He recovered well to finish aheadﷺ of his main title rival. 

Max Verstappen - 6

A shocking weekend on the whole for Verstappen, 🏅who blamed a poor setup cho♒ice. He was comparatively out-paced by teammate Perez in Baku.

Fernando Alonso - 8.5

Alonso produce☂d a great lap to make it into Q3, and beat both Williams drivers. Like he usually does, he extracted the most from the Aston Martin on race day to come away w🍬ith a big haul of points.

Alex Albon - 8

Albon scored Williams’ best result ꦯof the year in eighth. Albon showed great pace by going long on the 🅺hard tyres, fending off from Norris, Verstappen and Russell. 

Franco Colapinto - 8.5

Colapinto continues to impress. The Argentine was arguably the star of qualifying, ma𒐪king Q3 in only his second F1 race. 

Lewis Hamilton - 6

Like Verstappen, Ham🌃ilton endured a poor weekend in Azerbaijan. He blamed a faulty﷽ component for his Q3 showing, while his race chances were ruined by a pit lane start due to a PU change.

Oliver Bearman - 8

Bearman was sensational in qualifying, getting one over Hulkenberg. The Haas driver strugg♓led in the first part of the race for pace. He was then fortunate to get ahead of Hulkenberg on the penultimate lap, getting past into Turn 3 once they drove past the debris caused by Sainz and Perez.

Nico Hulkenberg - 7

Hulkenberg was beaten by rookie stand-in teamma💜te in qualifying. He was on course to pick up a point heading onto Lap 50, but lost out to ♔Bearman.

Pierre Gasly - 7.5

A fairly good weekend from Gasly, who was clearly the quicker of the two Alpi꧟ne drivers. His solid qualifying display was ruined by a disqualification due to a fuel🀅 flow breach. He raced well to finish just outside the points. 

Daniel Ricciardo - 6.5

An underwhelming weekeꦜnd for Ricciardo overall. He was the weaꦡker of the two RB drivers and put together an anonymous weekend.

Zhou Guanyu - 6.5

Zhou’s fate was sealed ahead of qualifying after Sauber opted to take a new engine. Instead, he played the team game, giving Bottas a lovely slipstream on the Finn’s best lap. Zhou drove a solid race, ultimately finishing ahea🥃d of Bottas after overtaking him twice.

Esteban Ocon - 6

A bit of a disastrous👍 weekend for Ocoꩲn, whose running was limited throughout practice

Valtteri Bottas - 6

Bottas’ qual🌞ifying form continuesꦕ to be impressive - but it wasn’t enough to get through to Q2.

Sergio Perez - 8.5

There’🅘s no doubt that Azerbaijan was Perez’s strongest weekend of the year. He was comfortably Red Bull’s best driver, leading Verstappen by over 20 seconds before his unfortunate retirement.

Carlos Sainz - 8

While S🎃ainz was a step behind Leclerc in overall pace terms, his tyre management and raౠce day display was strong. The incident with Perez was a shame, with the stewards labelling it a racing incident.

Lance Stroll - 6

Stroll’s aftern🅰oon was ruined after contact with Tsu꧙noda on Lap 1.

Yuki Tsunoda - 5.5

After qualiꦗfying well, contact with 🦋Stroll on Lap 1 made him the first retirement.

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