F1 Australian GP - Driver Ratings

Looking back on the Australian Grand Prix weekend and the start of the new Formula 1 season, Crash.net F1 Editor Luke Smith puts together his driver ratings.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes: 9

Hamilton rarely put a foot wrong through the Australian Grand Prix weekend, with his qualifying lap being particularly spectacular. His late mistake trying to catch Sebastian Vettel ended all hopes of a victory he lost not by his own doing.

Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes: 5

Bottas was made to pay for his qualifying mistake on Saturday, binning his Mercedes car at the very start of his Q3 hot lap. The Finn started 15th due to a gearbox penalty and could only recover to P8, plus forced Mercedes into changing the energy store and control electronics on his power unit.

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari: 8

Vettel’s race victory was perfectly executed, but the German struggled through the early part of the race on the Ultrasoft tyre, running around eight seconds back from Hamilton at one stage. Also was outqualified by Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen before eventually coming good in the second stint of the race.

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari: 8

For all of the criticism laid Raikkonen’s way, he was sound for Ferrari throughout the Australia weekend, leading its charge in qualifying. Struggled to keep up with Hamilton early in the race, but was comfortably clear of Vettel before the VSC.

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull: 7

Daniel Ricciardo’s home race weekend didn’t yield the kind of result he would have liked as the elusive podium escaped his grasp once again. Three-tenths back from Verstappen in qualifying, but did well to recover from his grid penalty for P4 at the flag.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull: 6

A scruffy race for Max Verstappen. Much of his good work in qualifying - he was only half a tenth off a front-row start - was undone in the race. A poor start saw him slip behind Kevin Magnussen before he spun when trying to catch, having also suffered damage to his car. Was unfortunate to lose out to Alonso at the VSC before failing to get P6 back.

Sergio Perez, Force India: 6

Despite the hype surrounding Force India’s significant update package on the VJM11 car for Australia, the team just didn’t have the pace to compete in the upper-half of the midfield. Perez pushed to reach the points, tailing Sainz in the closing stages, but couldn’t get past.

Esteban Ocon, Force India: 5

Like Perez, Ocon struggled to make much of an impact despite the car updates, but was off the pace of his teammate throughout the weekend. A 0.7s gap in Q2 was particularly surprising, leaving Ocon 15th, and he eventually finished 13 seconds down the road from Perez in the race despite the mid-race Safety Car.

Lance Stroll, Williams: 6

Stroll’s form from 2017 seemed to flip in the opening round of the 2018 season. His qualifying performance was particularly impressive as he beat teammate Sirotkin by half a second, with a stellar Q1 lap being the difference between elimination and progression. His race was less impressive, though, as he came home behind Charles Leclerc and failed to make much progress.

Sergey Sirotkin, Williams: 5

A tough debut weekend for Sirotkin. Qualifying was a mess as he finished half a second back from Stroll before his race lasted just three laps due to an errant sandwich bag getting caught in his brake duct.

Nico Hulkenberg, Renault: 7

While Renault was unable to match Haas in the midfield fight, Nico Hulkenberg managed to head up the team’s charge by qualifying eighth and finishing seventh. Hulkenberg couldn’t keep Daniel Ricciardo back early on and was unlucky to lose out to Fernando Alonso after the McLaren driver pitted under the VSC. Nevertheless, a solid start for the German.

Carlos Sainz Jr., Renault: 6

Sainz was narrowly behind Hulkenberg throughout the weekend, qualifying just a few-thousandths of a second back. An early stop in the race dropped him out of the midfield fight, with the Spaniard then battling nausea through the closing stages of the race due to an issue with his drinks bottle. He held on for P10 ahead of Perez.

Pierre Gasly, Toro Rosso: 5

A tough first weekend of the year for Pierre Gasly and the new Toro Rosso-Honda partnership. Gasly admitted he got “greedy” in qualifying, with a lock-up at Turn 3 leaving him last on the grid. He made a good start, but ultimately retired due to an MGU-H failure.

Brendon Hartley, Toro Rosso: 6

Hartley suffered a narrow knockout in Q1 as he led Toro Rosso’s run in qualifying, finishing 16th. A big lock-up on the fist lap forced him into an early pit stop that compromised his race, but he never had the pace to latch back onto the midfield, eventually finishing a lap down.

Romain Grosjean, Haas: 7

Haas made an impact in Australia two years ago with Romain Grosjean, and he nearly did the same again before the wheel-nut issue resulted in an unsafe release from the pits. Grosjean did well to keep Daniel Ricciardo at bay and ran as high as P5 before the issue forced him to park up and retire.

Kevin Magnussen, Haas: 8

Magnussen was outstanding throughout the Melbourne weekend, finishing as the top midfield driver in qualifying to secure P5 on the grid after Ricciardo’s penalty. A ballsy move around the outside of Verstappen at Turn 1 saw him run fourth before keeping the Red Bull driver back and even force him into a mistake. The cross-threaded wheelnut cruelly denied Magnussen a top-five finish.

Fernando Alonso, McLaren: 7

A decent display from Alonso to kick-start the McLaren-Renault era in Australia. The Spaniard wasn’t so hot in qualifying, finishing 11th, but perfected his long first stint so he could catapult up the order by pitting under the VSC. Alonso was cheeky to not move past Verstappen despite being waved through, instead getting the move done on the restart before fending the Red Bull off for 26 laps to take fifth place - his and McLaren’s best result for 18 months.

Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren: 6

Vandoorne had a relatively quiet race weekend, qualifying 12th after finishing over tenth back from Alonso, and then struggled to make the same kind of progress through the race after pitting just before the VSC was called. He couldn’t keep Bottas back after the restart, leaving him P9 come the finish, although he managed to keep within half a second of the Mercedes driver thanks to the train of cars.

Marcus Ericsson, Sauber: 6

Ericsson headed up Sauber’s charge in Australia, turning heads when he finished third in FP3. Six-hundredths would have got him through to Q2 after running three sets of Ultrasofts in qualifying, but he still finished a tenth clear of Leclerc. Retired due to a hydraulic issue, but was buoyant after the race now he feels he can actually race again.

Charles Leclerc, Sauber: 6

A fairly quiet debut weekend in F1 for Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque driver failed to match Ericsson in qualifying, but had a decent enough race, finishing on the lead lap and making one of only a handful of overtakes in the race, passing Lance Stroll before keeping him back to the flag.