2024 Bahrain Grand Prix - Driver Ratings
The 2024 F1 season is finally underway under the lights of the Sakhir International Circuit in Bahrain!
An obvious winner with some having impressive performances, while some struggled and had to settle for a less than ideal result.
Logan Sargeant - N/A
Qualified: 18th Finished: 20th
Fighting for 13th place, Logan Sargeant was making good progress having started from a lowly 18th place.
However, all the progress was instantly wasted when his Williams steering wheel, now with a new design after the team abandoned the butterfly design it used for 10 years, suddenly turned Logan's brake bias up to over 90% on it's own mid corner which caused the car to overheat and forced Logan to stop the car.
After over a minute of waiting, he got going again and continued the race in hope that a Safety Car would bring the race back to him. Unfortunately, that would not come to be and he finished in dead last and over half a minute behind his nearest competitor, Valtteri Bottas.
His rating is inconclusive as it would be difficult to see how his race would have gone had the car not run into issues.
Nico Hulkenberg - 3/10
Qualified: 10th Finished: 16th
Making it into Q3 and starting in the top 10 was incredible for Nico Hulkenberg, especially considering how dark the season looked like for Haas.
That is where the good things end however as Nico's race was over at turn 1. A lapse of judgment under braking on the inside of turn 1 caused him to run into the back of the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, damaging his front wing and putting him over 30 seconds behind the rest of the pack at the end of Lap 2.
Pierre Gasly - 3/10
Qualified: 20th Finished: 18th
In subpar machinery, it's hard to rate Pierre Gasly without comparing him to his team-mate who was consistently quicker than him during the race.
This weekend will serve as a wake up call to Alpine, as they hope to make a McLaren-esque rise through the field after the papaya team endured a similar fate at last season's opener.
Esteban Ocon - 3.5/10
Qualified: 19th Finished: 17th
As mentioned with Gasly, it is hard to rate Ocon due to the machinery he has to deal with, but outperforming Gasly and finishing over 15 seconds ahead of him is something to note, though both Alpines spent the race in no man's land so it all does not really matter in the end.
Valtteri Bottas - 4/10
Qualified: 16th Finished: 19th
Outqualifying team-mate Zhou Guanyu by only a thousandth of a second, Valtteri ran into misfortune at the start as he ran into the spinning Lance Stroll at the hairpin which caused wing damage that he had to nurse for the next 17 laps.
Salt was added to the wound as an incredibly slow pitstop that will remind Valtteri of his pit-stop at the same track in 2020 but him way back into nowhere behind the pack despite already being down in 18th place prior to the stop.
A weekend for Valtteri to rub off quickly as his team-mate showed that the car does have the performance to get close to the points paying positions.
Lewis Hamilton - 4.5/10
Qualified: 9th Finished: 7th
With his team-mate George Russell qualifying in third place and consistently being in those positions in the race, Lewis was on the opposite end of the top 10.
A difficult qualifying followed a difficult race as he only passed one car that was the McLaren of young Oscar Piastri who went deep into turn 1 after a slow stop allowed Hamilton to successfully complete the undercut.
The lack of pace could be owed to the battery problems and a broken seat that he would be leaving at the end of the season, but it was still a difficult race for the 7-time champion as he hopes to have a better weekend in Jeddah next week.
Alex Albon - 5/10
Qualified: 13th Finished: 15th
A decent job in the midfield despite also having steering wheel problems like his team-mate Sargeant, Albon did not really fight against much drivers and was on a race of his own.
Finishing in 15th place, there is a lot of work for him and the team to do if they want to try and go near the middle of the field.
Daniel Ricciardo - 5/10
Qualified: 14th Finished: 13th
One of the focal points of the weekend, Daniel Ricciardo was consistently outperformed by his team-mate Tsunoda, who qualified in 11th place while the Aussie could only muster up to 14th position.
Spending the majority of the race in 15th to 16th place while Tsunoda was almost in the back-end of the points, Ricciardo had a favourable strategy.
With soft compound tyres fitted onto him, he closed the ten second gap to Tsunoda who struggled to pass the Haas of Kevin Magnussen for 12th place.
The tension brewed when RB ordered a swap between the drivers on lap 51, but it was only on lap 53 after some hesitation and frustration that the veteran was allowed through on the exit of turn 4.
Ricciardo would also not get past Magnussen despite a tyre advantage and would finish in 13th place.
He would then go on to call Tsunoda a "helmet" at the cooldown lap after the Japanese driver tried to divebomb him to send a message of frustration to him and the team.
A mediocre race that was saved by the strategy leaves RB with some work to do, and some drivers to manage.
Oscar Piastri - 6/10
Qualified: 8th Finished: 8th
Oscar Piastri did not have much to do this race. Solid management and pace that is a step up from his rookie year.
Cold tyres meant that he went deep into turn one and lost his place to Hamilton after a slow stop denied him a clear gap in front of the Brit to respond to Mercedes' undercut.
A solid drive to finish in the points but nothing to write home about or remember.
Yuki Tsunoda - 6.5/10
Qualified: 11th Finished: 14th
Tsunoda missed out on a top 10 start by 0.007 seconds, but managed to sneak into the top 10 after Hulkenberg and Stroll's incident.
Fighting against fellow asian Zhou Guanyu for points but a slightly unfavourable strategy put him at a tyre disadvantage and allowed him to be passed by the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, who he would struggle to pass for the last 20 laps.
Team order drama brought out a hot-headed Yuki, as he tried to divebomb his team-mate post race to send a message to RB and his team-mate
However, it was a reckless move and showed that Tsunoda can still fail to compose and control himself when things don't go this way. Not ideal when he wants to be in the senior team in the future.
Charles Leclerc - 6.5/10
Qualified: 2nd Finished: 4th
A tough race for Charles saw him keep 2nd place at the start, but brake issues surfaced when he constantly kept locking up at the tricky downhill hairpin of turn 10.
Constantly having to fight the car under braking, he lost 2nd place to Russell, Sainz and Perez. But after lap 15, the problems subsided and he was able to pass the Mercedes of George Russell who had his own issues to manage.
Overall, more bad luck came for Charles who had a strong front-row start, but he showed his strength and good raw pace to bring home a good result to Ferrari.
Lance Stroll - 7/10
Qualified: 12th Finished: 10th
The race looked dire for Lance Stroll at turn 1. Getting tapped in the rear and spun around by the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg found him at the back of the grid.
However, he recovered well. Making overtakes and a good strategy allowed him to climb back up to the points positions, finishing in 10th.
A good race for Lance as he hopes to draw closer to team-mate Fernando Alonso this season to show his worth to Aston Martin.
Fernando Alonso - 7/10
Qualified: 5th Finished: 9th
Aston Martin looks like the slowest car in the top 10. Over 20 seconds off his nearest competitor in front, Fernando Alonso did not have a lot of work cut out for him other than a few overtakes in his closing stint.
A dull race where they were far off the pace of the top teams despite qualifying in a strong fifth, Aston Martin will look to show more strength over the race rather than over one lap if they want to pose a strong threat to the top four teams.
Lando Norris - 7/10
A quiet race for Norris as the McLaren looks inferior to the Ferrari and Mercedes.
Staying within attacking range of Leclerc and Russell, Lando could not really get anywhere close to finishing in the top 5 despite being in touching range.
Hoping that McLaren will make big steps in development as they did last season, it will be a tight year for Lando as the battle from 2nd to 8th looks like it's going to be a tight one for the whole year.
Kevin Magnussen - 7/10
Qualified: 15th Finished: 12th
Once again coming second best to his team-mate in qualifying, Magnussen definitely made up for it in the race.
Keeping it clean and calm under pressure from the RBs, him holding both of them off was what caused the rift between the two.
All in all, Magnussen has to step up in terms of one-lap pace if he wants to consistently beat his team-mate Hulkenberg as he has displayed numerous times here in Bahrain, and in 2023, that he has the superior race pace over the German.
George Russell - 7/10
Qualified: 3rd Finished: 5th
George Russell had a good race in the opening stages. Swooping round the outside of a struggling Leclerc in turn 4 to take second place, Russell then ran into issues with his car and had to manage for a majority of the race.
This cost him 2nd place and even a podium to the likes of Perez and Sainz. Russell's drive definitely earned more than his fifth place finish, which brings a lot of hope to the team that has struggled significantly in the last two years.
However, he did still beat team-mate Hamilton and qualified well in third place and this year he will try and deny the 7-time champion of a perfect goodbye from Mercedes.
Sergio Perez - 7.5/10
Qualified: 5th Finished: 2nd
Many doubted Checo Perez after his relatively disastrous 2023, but he drove what he needed to do. Runner-up to Max and mostly untroubled.
Though he had work to do starting from 5th, he overtook Leclerc and Russell after a tight battle between them and Sainz in the early stages.
Keeping it clean in spite of pressure from the Ferrari, Checo will hope that this year can finally be the year he challenges team-mate Verstappen for the championship. Though being gapped 22 seconds by the Dutchman may not hold much promise.
Zhou Guanyu - 8/10
In his third year of driving in Formula 1, Zhou Guanyu looks to convince Sauber to keep him for the future Audi project.
There is no better way to start off the year than to finish best of the rest.
11th place is impressive considering the top 10 is taken by the Red Bulls, Mercedes, Ferraris, McLarens and Aston Martins.
Fighting for 10th with Tsunoda and Stroll, he kept his nose clean and brought home a good result to Sauber, especially considering the RBs look significantly faster than them.
Beating team-mate Bottas, it's a good confidence boost for Zhou as he looks to have a standout year.
Carlos Sainz - 8.5/10
Qualified: 4th Finished: 2nd
Carlos Sainz is on a mission to prove Ferrari that they made a mistake letting him go, and it's a good start to finish on the podium and only be 2 seconds off a Red Bull.
Passing a struggling Leclerc and Russell, Sainz managed his race well to secure a podium and even posed a threat to the Red Bull of Perez for second place.
All Carlos needs to do now is to carry on this form for the rest of the season and show consistency along with the strong pace he displayed in the opener and he might be the hottest product in the driver market for teams to pry after.
Max Verstappen - 10/10
Qualified: 1st Finished: 1st
Once again, Max Verstappen drove a flawless race.
Breaking free from the 1 second DRS gap despite it being enabled right after lap 1 and only faded into the distance since.
Securing the fastest lap and a 20+ second gap over the nearest car, his team-mate Sergio Perez, was the perfect way of sending a clear message to the rest of the drivers and teams that he is the juggernaut and it will take heaps of work to dethrone his crown this season.
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