2024 F1 Qatar GP driver ratings: Lewis Hamilton's worst race at Mercedes?

Max Verstappen - 9.5

Verstappen delivered yet another masterclass in Qatar to take his ninth F1 victory of the 2024 season. The main blemish on his weekend was a farcical one-place grid penalty for driving too slowly in qualifying and blocking George Russell (who wasn’t even on a fast lap). 

Zhou Guanyu - 9

Zhou deservedly picked up driver of the day in Qatar. He out-qualified teammate Bottas on merit before driving a strong race to finish in the points. 

Fernando Alonso - 9

Another star performer in the midfield was Alonso. While Aston Martin struggled for raw performance as Alonso lamented a lack of straight-line speed, an inspired call to switch back onto the mediums for the Safety Car restart proved crucial in his recovery to seventh. 

Pierre Gasly - 9

There’s no doubt that in recent rounds that Gasly has been up there as one of F1’s top performers. Again in Qatar, Gasly was competitive throughout before securing a top five finish. 

George Russell - 8.5

Russell was lighting quick again in Qatar as he claimed back-to-back pole positions. While fourth was probably the best he could hope for in Sunday’s race, his rating has taken a slight hit due to a penalty he picked up for a Safety Car infringement (even if it was inconsequential to the overall result).

Charles Leclerc - 8.5

A tidy weekend from Leclerc on the whole. He was out-performed by Sainz in the sprint segment - but was clearly the better of the two Ferraris come race day. 

Kevin Magnussen - 8

Magnussen deserved better than ninth as Haas were caught out by the timing of the Safety Car. The Dane lost out to Alonso and Zhou.

Carlos Sainz - 7.5

After performing well in the sprint part of the weekend, Sainz struggled to match his teammate’s pace in conventional qualifying or the race. He was unfortunate to pick up a puncture, probably due to the debris from Alex Albon’s Williams. 

Oscar Piastri - 7

While Piastri came away with a sprint race victory and podium, it was quite an underwhelming weekend for the Australian. Without Norris’ teamwork in the sprint, Russell would have likely overtaken him. And before the Safety Car, he was just under a dozen seconds off his teammate. 

Valtteri Bottas - 7

While Bottas was out-qualified by teammate Zhou, a strong start put him in contention for points. An incident with Lawson gave him minor floor damage early on though. After that, Bottas fought hard to finish 11th in the end.

Alex Albon - 6.5

Williams never quite had pace to finish in the top 10. Albon was tagged into a spin by Stroll on the opening lap, while a switch to the softs after the Safety Car didn’t quite pay off in the end.

Yuki Tsunoda - 6

After a great start, Tsunoda and RB didn’t have the pace of their midfield rivals. Like Albon, going on the softs under the Safety Car didn’t work out.

Lando Norris - 5.5

Norris was lightning quick through the Qatar weekend but his good work was undone when he failed to lift for double-waved yellow flags. He picked up a 10-second stop-go penalty as a result.

Liam Lawson - 5

A scrappy weekend for Lawson overall, who was also penalised for an incident with Bottas.

Nico Hulkenberg - 5

After starring in the sprint segment of the weekend, Hulkenberg’s weekend fell apart in qualifying. He was knocked out in Q1 before a clumsy incident on the opening lap forced Ocon and Colapinto out of the race.

Franco Colapinto - 5

Colapinto was unlucky at the start of the race. A case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Regardless, he lacked pace relative to Albon, which is unsurprisingly given he’s been forced to run an older-spec suspension due to a shortage of parts at Williams.

Lance Stroll - 4.5

Stroll didn’t make the chequered flag after colliding with Albon on the opening lap. That resulted in some damage plus a penalty from the stewards which made continuing in the grand prix futile.

Esteban Ocon - 4.5

Ocon’s final weeknd with Alpine was one to forget. Off the pace and out at the first corner. The Frenchman will be looking forward to getting into the Haas now. 

Sergio Perez - 3.5

Another torrid weekend for Perez. While he did make it into Q3 - and drove solid race up until the Safety Car - he seemed to through it away with an amateur mistake. Perez blamed a sudden "massive over delivery" which caused his spin under the Safety Car on cold tyres.

Lewis Hamilton - 3

Things can't get much worse for Hamilton. The seven-time world champion was consistently 0.3s to 0.4s off Russell over one-lap. He picked up two penalties in the race - one for a false start and another for speeding in the pit lane. A complete disaster.