Driver Ratings - Italian Grand Prix

Some drivers thrived, while others struggled to survive. Monza was a classic for McLaren, and a disaster for the championship leaders.

Here’s how we think the drivers performed at the Italian Grand Prix…

Daniel Ricciardo - 10

Back to his best, Ricciardo made it clear that he never left. A super strong weekend across all sessions that came together in the perfect way for him and the team.

Lando Norris - 9

Norris may have had his best result in F1 overshadowed by his team mate, but it was a brilliant weekend from the young McLaren driver. He managed to keep Hamilton behind for 18 laps before holding off a later charge from the Red Bull of Sergio Perez.

Valtteri Bottas - 9

Pole position. Sprint qualifying winner. P19 to P3. This was Bottas’s best race weekend in a long, long time.

Charles Leclerc - 9

While he will be disappointed to miss out on the podium, Leclerc had a superb weekend in front of the Tifosi, in a car that is showing some strong pace across various track types. Watch this space, Ferrari could be in the mixer throughout the rest of the season.

Sergio Perez - 5

A story we're too used to seeing from Perez. A poor qualifying and a decent recovery come race day. The Mexican needs to sort out his pace on Saturday if Red Bull, and Max Verstappen want to challenge the Silver Arrows for either one of the titles this season.

Carlos Sainz - 7

A mixed weekend for Sainz, but he contributed with some much needed damage limitation considering the result McLaren managed to secure. While he was second best to Leclerc, he has the skills to recover in Russia.

Lance Stroll - 7

The best of the rest, finishing as the first car behind the top teams is a result Stroll can be proud of. He failed to make Q3 but managed to get into the top 10 and ahead of Vettel in the sprint, where some luck and strong racing got him a decent points result.

Fernando Alonso - 7

On a track that wasn't suited to his car, Alonso delivered a classic performance to get some much needed points on the board. It was a fairly quiet weekend overall, but it meant the team didn't lose any ground in the midfield battle.

George Russell - 8

With all the action up from with the McLaren 1-2, Russell’s top-10 finish went under the radar. The Brit needed some luck to get the result, but that takes nothing away from what was an excellent race for the Williams man, especially with the way he held off off Ocon until the end.

Esteban Ocon - 6

Not the finest display from Ocon in Italy, with him first having to give a place back to Latifi after overtaking illegally and then receiving a five-second penalty for hitting Vettel. But a point is a point and he will be happy with that.

Nicholas Latifi - 8

Latifi deserved a point for his efforts over the weekend. He pushed Russell in qualifying before working his way up to P11 in the sprint race, only for it to all go wrong due to the timing of the safety car. He could have finished P9/P10 without it.

Sebastian Vettel - 6

A tough weekend for Vettel, especially when you consider he wasn't at fault for any of the incidents he was involved in. Pushed onto the gravel by his team-mate before Ocon and Schumacher also made contact with him, making a fight back all but impossible.

Antonio Giovinazzi - 6

Another superb qualifying performance for Giovinazzi, with the Italian starting the sprint race in P10, before finishing in P8. While points in inferior machinery may have been a tough ask, spinning into the wall on the first lap made it impossible. It's looking more and more unlikely we'll see him at Alfa Romeo next season.

Robert Kubica - 6

Finishing the race and ahead of both Haas drivers has to be considered a decent result for Kubica. While he didn't keep pace with the cars ahead for much of the race, he managed to settle after the safety car and showed he's still got something to offer.

Mick Schumacher - 5

The faster of the two Haas cars, and that's about it. Hopefully we'll see something better next season from the team.

Did not finish:

Nikita Mazepin - 4

Another poor weekend for Mazepin. He was beaten by both Schumacher and Kubica in qualifying and then hit his team-mate on race day.

Max Verstappen - 5

Before the crash, Max was having a mixed race, especially after losing the lead at the start. Regarding the crash, we know Max Verstappen doesn't concede a position, and that finally backfired when he made a move he should have pulled back from.

Lewis Hamilton - 5

Second best to Bottas on Saturday and then made a really poor start which left him with a massive task on race-day. While the focus will be on the incident with Max, the most important this is that he walked away from the car with little to no injuries.

Pierre Gasly - N/A

Crashed out in sprint qualifying and had to retire the car after a handful of laps.

Yuki Tsunoda - N/A

Yuki didn’t make the start.