2023 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX - DRIVER RATINGS

 The 2023 Formula 1 season is now underway under the lights of the Bahrain International Circuit! With some drivers leaving the track with delight, while some will have their heads down in what was a thrilling race with winners and losers. 

Here are my driver ratings for the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix:

Max Verstappen - 10

  What is there to say about Max Verstappen that hasn't already been said? When he is one with the car, he is basically a missile shooting through the circuit in the race and once he is leading into turn 1, no other driver will ever see him again unless they're getting lapped. Gapping the nearest driver which was his team-mate Sergio Perez, by a whopping 11.9 seconds, it was a rather flawless performance by the dutchman who is on the hunt to secure his 3rd consecutive world title (or 2nd if you cope hard enough). There was no other perfect way of starting off the season, except maybe getting the fastest lap!

Fernando Alonso - 10

  A shock move to Aston Martin that had every F1 fan saying that it was a downgrade or the wrong move that proved to be wrong in the best way possible. Fernando at the ripe young age of 42 produced stellar racing and overtakes today in his battles against Sainz and Hamilton, especially with that move at turn 10, proved to everyone that he is still one of the best drivers Formula 1 has on the grid. Bringing back hope to an Aston Martin team that has struggled alot in the last 2 years and will lead them into breaking into the big three of Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes. This could be the start of something special and we have to wait and see how the season unfolds for Fernando and Aston.

Pierre Gasly - 9

  After having to start in last place after his lap time got deleted for track limits, Gasly had his work cut out for him starting in plumb last on the grid. He made the most of it, gaining 11 places in the race and finishing in a solid 9th place and one second off Bottas in 8th to make it a memorable debut in pink while also picking up a fastest lap along the way before the last lap when Zhou nabbed it from him.

Alex Albon - 8.5

  A Williams that looked decent in qualifying, and it's even better in the race. Climbing up the pecking order to earn hard fought points. Strategy was right and a solid job from the Thai driver. Fending off all attacks from the likes of Tsunoda all the way to the end and even the long DRS train at the start. Williams genuinely look like solid midfield contenders this year.

Sergio Perez - 8

  Sergio, or 'Checo', rounded off Red Bull's commanding race with a strong 2nd place finish, but was it truly that commanding? A slow start saw him getting swarmed by the 2 Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and while he was able to fend off the 'Smooth Operator', he ceded his position to Leclerc. It was only until Lap 26, half way through the race, that the Mexican was able to finally reclaim that 2nd spot and would never leave that position until the chequered flag. With that being said, was he where the car really belonged? Considering he was stuck behind Leclerc for half of the race, while his team mate Verstappen was a comfortable 13 seconds in front of the Ferrari and he was only able to pass Leclerc on soft tyres while the Ferrari was on hards. Not a perfect result, but on paper it's still 2nd place and we can only hope that he can somewhat be closer to his unstoppable team mate this year.

Charles Leclerc - 8

  Charles Leclerc, a driver looking to contend for the title. However, that may seem like a distant dream now. He drove a solid race, jumping Sergio Perez at the start and held on to the position in what looks like an inferior car to the Red Bulls and maintained a gap of 3 seconds to Perez behind until he was overtaken as Ferrari had opted to go for a soft-hard-hard strategy for the race and that may have seemed to cost him in the middle part of the race. Things from then seemed to settle down however as he looked to bring home a podium finish in third place. What didn't settle down however, was his engine. With only 17 laps to go, Charles' energy store, which had been replaced before the race, had given up and forced Leclerc to retire from the race and the threat of a grid penalty already looms Ferrari only after the first round. Overall, a solid race until the engine failure, but could Ferrari do what Red Bull had done last year and win the title after a mechanical failure in the desert?

Lance Stroll - 8

  

  For a man who many people said should not even have raced this weekend and for one who remarked that his wrists were 'on fire', Lance Stroll fought through the pain and finished in 6th place, slightly off Hamilton in 5th and pipping Russell by a second. Strong soldiering weekend by Stroll and when he recovers, who knows where he could be in the pecking order.

  

Logan Sargeant - 7.5

  Best rookie out of the lot. When people said he shouldn't be in F1, he stepped up and proved everyone wrong. Being close to his teammate all weekend, a clean lap 1, solid overtakes and a good job done by Sargeant in his first race and points look possible for Jeddah. Maybe America will finally have a good F1 driver for the first time in decades?

 Valtteri Bottas - 7.5

  Valtteri had a solid race, jumping Stroll who collided with Alonso at the start and jumped the battling Russell and Alonso during the first round of pit stops. However, his car was not ideal and he lost those places but he sailed home to a P8, solid points on the board especially with a car that isn't meant to be in those places.

Yuki Tsunoda - 7

   This year is a big year for Tsunoda. He has to prove that he can step up and keep his seat in Formula 1 as the threat of F2 juniors like Iwasa, Maloney, Fittipaldi or even Super Formula driver Liam Lawson now eyeing up his seat. A must impress year for Yuki and for an AlphaTauri that did not look that great in testing, 11th place and half a tenth off Albon for a point is a good step for the season but as we've seen in previous years, Tsunoda often only performs well at Bahrain and never again so we'll have to see if he can string these kind of performances up and maybe bring some points on the board.

Sir Lewis Hamilton - 6.5

  

 A new season means a new chance for Sir Lewis Hamilton to reclaim his lost title from 2021. With the W14 returning to the winning colour of black and half of the car being made of carbon fiber to optimize weight saving, the Mercedes looked like it could be back on top this year. When it hit the track, it proved to be the opposite as both drivers struggle to keep up with the Ferraris and Red Bulls and maybe Aston Martins. Sir Lewis had a decent race, managing to finish in a hard fought 5th place after almost getting Carlos Sainz for 4th. With some Mercedes strategy blunders with them pitting in spite of Lewis thinking the tyres were fine. At the start of the race, he appeared to be struggling with team-mate Russell wanting to pass him as he claimed he had more pace than the 7-time champion. Putting up a brave defence against Fernando Alonso until eventually getting, let's be honest, bossed into the heavy braking zone of turn 10. All in all, a quite 'meh' race for Lewis, doing all he could with the machinery he was given but it's not where Mercedes would like to be.

Zhou Guanyu - 6

A 2nd career fastest lap for Zhou after a late pit stop is certainly worth noting but for the rest of the race, he was quite average, fighting the Williams and the AlphaTauri of Tsunoda for a point until Alfa Romeo opted to pit him in for softs to steal a fastest lap point from Gasly.

Carlos Sainz - 5

  

 An attitude that suggests that he will fight for the title? A car that is designed a little more to suit him? Surely Carlos Sainz's pace will pick up this year, right? Not really. An alright start to the race saw him stick behind the Red Bull of Sergio Perez for the opening stages, but since then, he dropped off massively. Gapped 13 seconds by his teammate Charles Leclerc while being consistently half a second off each lap. Hopes of a podium re-emerged after Leclerc's engine broke down and he was sitting comfortably in third, until his childhood hero Fernando Alonso caught up to him from 5 seconds back and after a tough battle, got past the Smooth Operator to claim an Aston Martin podium while Sainz had to settle for 4th. His problems didn't end there as the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton had caught up to him and was right on his tail before backing off in the latter stages of the race. Overall, disappointing considering how his teammate had done and the fact he was close to not even making it into the top 5 this race.

George Russell - 5

  Claiming to have more pace than his teammate Sir Lewis Hamilton in the early stages of the race, to basically disappearing after that. Qualifying a disappointing 8th was somewhat recovered with a strong start and climbing to P6, until getting overtaken by Lance Stroll who was racing with wrists in pain, exacerbated by colliding with Alonso on lap 1 which only makes Russell getting pocketed by him all the more disappointing. For a young man who many said would challenge Sir Lewis after his Brazil victory last season, next race has to be better.

 Kevin Magnussen - 5

  For a car that could make Q3, it was a disappointing weekend for Kevin who got knocked outqualified by teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who was out of F1 full-time for 3 whole years. A strategic gamble to start on Hards when everyone else was on softs simply did not work and he faded away since.

Nyck De Vries - 5

  A non ideal weekend for the Dutchman saw him qualify second last and 7 tenths off team-mate Yuki Tsunoda and in the race he was left out to dry by the AlphaTauri strategists by not pitting under the Virtual Safety Car period but before that, he wasn't doing too well either. With all his experience being a Formula 2 champion and a Formula E world champion, he needs to step it up with the results by the time mid season rolls around as at the age of 28, his seat is not secure. 

Nico Hulkenberg - 4

   A good qualifying has been undone in the race where the Haas just did not look good in the race where he dropped like a rock in the race to finish a low 15th, behind team-mate Magnussen. To make it to Q3 on return is impressive, but with all his experience he has to do better in the race. Poor racecraft led to damage to his wing in turn 4. 

Esteban Ocon - 2

  Everything that could have possibly went wrong for Esteban Ocon, went wrong. Getting a 5 second penalty for incorrect starting position and then getting another penalty for serving a penalty incorrectly. And when he thought it couldn't get any worse, he got another penalty for speeding in the pit lane by 0.1 km/h. 0.1 km/h. 20 seconds of penalties in 27 laps is an embarrassing display for the Frenchman and his start to the season could not have possibly gone worse.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri - N/A

  Both of these drivers were barely in the race, so it's unfair to give them any rating as Piastri had to retire early on in the race and Norris having to pit multiple times to fix an air pressure issue and spending the rest of the race sticking to the back of the scrap for 4th place and pitting countless times.