Driver Ratings - Eifel Grand Prix

A record breaking Grand Prix at the Nürburgring gave us 91 wins and a Danny Ric podium.

Here are our driver ratings…

Lewis Hamilton - 9

After being out-qualified by his team-mate, it looked like Hamilton was going to have to wait another few weeks for his 91st F1 victory. However, he made sure to keep pace with his team-mate to make the most of a mistake by the Finn before blasting away at the safety car restart. This wasn’t the dominant race we sometimes see, but that doesn’t matter. He’s matched Michael Schumacher and has opened up a 69 point lead in the championship.

Max Verstappen – 9

Max Verstappen and second place sounds all too familiar this season. After the news regarding Honda leaving the sport, Red Bull were hoping for a result to silence the stories and Max delivered. A mature and assured drive helped him earn fastest lap in a race that looked like (and was) Mercedes’ to lose.

Daniel Ricciardo - 10

Finally. We all knew it was possible, and once Bottas had retired form the race, it was game on. An awesome pass over Charles Leclerc set the tone for Ricciardo and gave him a solid advantage over the rest of the midfield before that was erased by the safety car. Despite that, he managed to manage his tyres, hold off a charging Sergio Perez and collect his first podium since 2018.

Sergio Perez – 9

A strong contender for driver of the day, Perez was clearly disappointed to miss out on a podium, but knew the team are now in an even stronger position to take P3 in the constructors championship. He was hard done by the safety car, but P4 is a lot of points and more proof he deserves a seat for next season.

Carlos Sainz – 8

I don’t recall seeing Sainz once on track and it may have been for the better after the McLaren driver described his race as “60 laps of suffering”, making reference to the new upgrades the teams brought to Germany. It’s fair to say P5 wouldn’t have happened without the retirements ahead of him which means the team have a lot of work to do before Portugal.

Pierre Gasly – 8

Another great drive from this season’s ‘Most Improved’ driver. Proving his ability to manage tyres, overtake and defend when needed, Gasly has really silenced a lot of his critics. My main concern is what Red Bull do with him. Will they risk giving him another go against Max? Or are they happy for him to lead Alpha Tauri as a true ‘sister team’ from 2021 onwards.

Charles Leclerc – 7

On course for a really solid points finish but his car just didn’t have enough to keep others at bay. An amazing qualifying performance and decent start, but Ferrari are so badly lacking in race pace that P7 is considered a decent result.

Nico Hulkenberg – 10

Hulkenberg was thrown in the deepest of deep-end when substituting for Lance Stroll, (who was unable to get off the toilet) and he certainly delivered. Starting in P20 with only 4 laps under his belt, the German driver gave the home crown something to cheer when he maintained a steady pace to climb up the order and make the most of those who retired ahead of him to finish P8.

Romain Grosjean – 9

My personal Driver of the Day, after dropping down to P20 and injuring his finger, Grosjean managed his set of hard tyres to get himself up to P7 before the safety car restart levelled out the field, costing him two places. An amazing drive and a middle-finger to all the haters.

Antonio Giovinazzi – 8

Gio needed this result, especially with all of the rumours surrounding his race seat for 2021. I personally think it won’t make any difference, but he’ll still be pleased to have had the upper-hand on Raikkonen in the drivers championship.  

Sebastian Vettel – 4

I don’t really know what to write about Vettel. A great FP£ was followed by a qualifying session where Leclerc embarrassed him before a race where, yet again, we saw him fighting with Alfa Romeo and Haas. Bring on 2021.

Kimi Raikkonen – 3

Only three things happened for Kimi. 1. He broke the records for race starts. 2. He punted Russell off the track. 3. Finished in P12.

Kevin Magnussen – 3

A day he’ll want to forget. Not only did everyone forget he was on track (apart from his aggressive defence against Vettel) but he’s also behind his team-mate in the championship.

Nicholas Latifi – 5

I’ve not made many notes about Latifi and his race, but he managed to keep it on track and had a lengthy battle with Kvyat after the safety car, where he showed off some rather impressive defensive driving.

Daniil Kvyat – 6

A really unlucky race for Kvyat after getting his race ruined by Alex Albon. He was in the hunt for some decent points, which he’ll need if he wants to keep hold of his seat.

Did not finish

Lando Norris – 7

Another podium finish was on the cards for Lando before his engine had other ideas. Running in P4 and chasing down his future team mate, Norris will be pissed off, but should be happy with his ability to keep his car in the points with a major power deficiency.

Alex Albon – 3

A truly terrible race for Alex Albon after a decent qualifying session. He’s getting serious questions over his seat for next season. You’ve seen it all or heard all about it already – so we’ll leave it at that.

Esteban Ocon – 6

It’s fair to say that Ocon would have picked up some points if mechanical issues didn’t end his race prematurely.

Valtteri Bottas – 6

It looked like it was going to be two wins from two after Bottas took P1 back from his team-mate, but it wasn’t meant to be. A silly mistake lost him the lead before he was let down with an engine issue.

George Russell – 5

Nothing he could do about the incident with Raikkonen, but he will need to score some points soon or he could get forgotten about.