2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Driver Ratings

 

  The 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was an interesting race. Despite the same obvious winner, there were a few surprises including a rookie who had to fill in for a sick driver last minute. Penalties galore and turn 1 battles were prevalent, with a large train by a driver making the race a good one to watch.

  Here are the driver ratings for the Saudi Arabian GP (out of 10):

Pierre Gasly -  N/A

Qualified: 18th Finished: DNF

 Pierre Gasly's race was over before it even begun. With a gearbox failure on the formation lap, Alpine were forced to toss in the towel on lap 1 and deepen their woes that Bahrain brought.

Lance Stroll -  3

Qualified: 10th  Finished: DNF

  Getting outqualified by an RB of Yuki Tsunoda while team-mate Alonso lined up on 4th place on the grid, Lance Stroll had ground to make up. 

  However, the only thing Lance Stroll made was one position and difficulties with his tyres. Leading a train with the rest of the field, the Canadian driver made a cheap mistake. Turning in a tad bit too early, clipping the inside wall of turn 22 which damaged his suspension and sent him off the road into the runoff and ultimately in the barrier.

  For a driver who has been drowning in mediocrity for the last 7 years, this is not a good start of the season for Lance. 2024 looks like it's simply going to be a continuation of 2023 for Stroll, being far off his veteran team-mate and making rookie errors, Stroll must improve from here and show Aston Martin that he wants to be in F1 as well as has the qualities to remain with the British racing green team for the long-term.

Daniel Ricciardo - 4

Qualified: 14th  Finished: 16th

  For someone with Daniel Ricciardo's experience, it was a very disappointing race on his end.

  Once again getting outqualified by team-mate Yuki Tsunoda who made Q3, he once again was running in 18th and last place for most of the race fighting the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas. Getting gapped by his team-mate but was saved when Tsunoda got stuck in a tight battle and train conducted by Magnussen. 

  When Magnussen started to pick up pace again however, the gap once again increased and Ricciardo was in no man's land. 3 seconds behind the Williams of Logan Sargeant and a long way ahead of Bottas and Zhou, Ricciardo spun after he mounted the turn 1 kerb which put him over 15 seconds behind Tsunoda.

  The spin is more painful especially when you consider that he spun in front of the driver who's seat he's targeting, Sergio Perez.

  All in all, two race weekends to immediately forget and move on for the experienced Aussie driver. If he really wants to return to the Red Bull senior team, he must perform and more importantly, he has to beat Tsunoda convincingly.

Valtteri Bottas - 5

Qualified: 16th  Finished: 17th

  There is nothing much to say about Valtteri Bottas' race, because he didn't look like he was in it.

  His only competitor being Ricciardo, he sat in last the whole way and pit in the latter stages to demote him to second last. Only avoiding being rock bottom when the Sauber pit crew made a costly stop for the second week running and messed up Zhou's front right tyre. 

Zhou Guanyu -  5

Qualified: N/A  Finished: 18th

  A costly crash in Practice 3 meant that Zhou Guanyu was unable to make qualifying on time due to the time taken for mechanics to repair his car. Though the car was repaired on time for Zhou to make an out-lap in the latter stages of Q1, he could not make it to the line to start his lap on time and try to limit the damage done to his weekend at that point. Though with the pace of the Sauber, would it have made a difference?

  A dull race from the Chinese driver followed, with the Safety Car brought out by Lance Stroll that caused most of the drivers to pit helping Zhou gain positions as he opted to stay out. Staying in 11th place and keeping good space ahead of Kevin Magnussen and his train, he then pit in the latter stages and could have stayed ahead of team-mate Bottas but a slow front right tyre cost him valuable time.

  After a strong opening round, Zhou has displayed good and reliable pace. Though his car may not allow him to show it.

Logan Sargeant - 6

Qualified: 19th  Finished: 14th

   Logan Sargeant is another driver where it's hard to see how well he raced, as he was stuck behind the train of Magnussen from 12th place downwards.

  His pace looked promising, with the American sticking with the train and more importantly with his team-mate Albon. After the train picked the pace up, he managed to gap Ricciardo behind and secure 15th on track which then became 14th after Yuki Tsunoda picked up a 5 second time penalty for an unsafe release.

  Logan has to work on his qualifying pace if he wants to have a better season than 2023 as the minimum should to be ahead of the Alpines, who are way slower, consistently.

Yuki Tsunoda - 6.5

Qualified: 9th  Finished: 15th

  Yuki Tsunoda is having a promising start to the season, being the fastest driver between the RBs and even making it into Q3 which is easier said than done when the top 10 slots and already secured by the top 5 teams.

  In the race however, he only went backwards. With the safety car making him lose spots to the drivers who stayed out while he pit. He was in net P10 however, if he can keep in the pit window of Zhou and Hulkenberg, all Tsunoda had to do was pass the Haas of Kevin Magnussen who he was stuck behind in Bahrain.

  Tsunoda would end up etching the Haas rear wing design in his brain however, as when he passed the Dane, K-Mag would always fight back with all he could even if it meant leaving the track and gaining an advantage.     

  When Magnussen defended against Tsunoda, it even cost him a position to Esteban Ocon and a brave send from Alex Albon demoted him to 14th.

  Tsunoda would cross the line in 14th, but a post-race penalty demoted him to 15th but more importantly, he still remained ahead of his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

  Tsunoda has to work on race pace as well as race craft if he wants to fight for points, as he has the edge over his experienced team-mate Ricciardo, it could be a crucial year for Yuki's career.

Kevin Magnussen - 6.5

Qualified: 13th  Finished: 12th

  Amidst all the floodlights surrounding the circuit, it was Kevin Magnussen who had the main spotlight on him throughout the race.

  Holding on a train of 6 cars by purposely slowing down in sector 1 in order to help his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg get a big enough gap to get the cars out of his pit window and give Haas a very unexpected point.

  A brave defense saw him fend off the likes of Tsunoda and Ocon, with every time he looked to pass he would display good spirit and race craft in fighting back to keep his position.

  However, he would garner over 20 seconds of time penalties due to leaving the track and gaining an advantage while fending Tsunoda off which arguably gave him the upper hand during the race.

  Crossing the line in 11th on track, he was demoted only one spot to Alex Albon as everybody else got lapped, meaning that Kevin had an extra lap over most of the field behind him so the penalty ultimately did not matter much.

Esteban Ocon - 6.5

Qualified: 17th Finished: 13th

 In very subpar machinery, 13th position was like a point for Esteban Ocon and the Alpine team.

 The Frenchman benefitted off the train that Kevin Magnussen was the head of, and took advantage of Tsunoda being forced wide in turn 2 by the Dane to swoop round the outside and claim an important position.

 Another good weekend for Ocon as he was convincingly quicker than his team-mate Gasly and with good pace to keep ahead of most of the drivers behind after the train had spread, there is a lot to take away for him and the Alpine outfit after this weekend in hopes that they can recover their terrible start of the season.

Lewis Hamilton - 6.5

Qualified: 8th  Finished: 9th

 Once again outpaced and beaten by his team-mate Russell, Hamilton had a less than ideal weekend.

  The 7-time champion fell behind and opted to stay out under the Safety Car and inherit 4th position on track. He would display solid pace, fending off the McLaren of Piastri for over 40 laps before pitting for softs.

  He would not manage to get pass Norris who was also chasing the Ferrari of Bearman, and ends the race in 9th position which is disappointing to his high standards.

George Russell - 7

Qualified: 7th  Finished: 6th

  A solid weekend for Russell who did everything that he needed to do, beat his team-mate Lewis Hamilton and finish well in the points. 

  Though he was unable to get past the slower Aston Martin of Alonso, who drove a brilliant race but we'll get to that later, he maintained a consistent gap and could not really have challenged for a podium or any of the McLarens who were significantly quicker through sector 1.

  A promising start for G-Russ in his sixth year in F1. With the departing Hamilton meaning he has to be the team leader from next year onwards, these first two races can serve as a good message to send to Hamilton. Implying that with or without the veteran, he can be the lead driver of the team.

Alex Albon - 7

Qualified: 12th Finished: 11th

 Albon did well to qualify in 12th in his Williams, a car that we are not sure of where they exactly are.

 Close to the RBs and Haas, Albon was able to keep with both of them all race and even made an outrageous, yet brilliant dive on Tsunoda into turn 1 to inherit 13th and then proceeding to get past the Alpine of Ocon.

  He did well to not get lapped by Verstappen which meant that with K-Mag's 20 second time penalty, he inherited a very strong 11th place and finished one position off the points paying position.

Lando Norris - 7

Qualified: 6th Finished: 8th

 Getting outqualified by team-mate Piastri, Lando was eager to get past him at the start. So eager that he even jumped the start, but got away with it in the end.

  Opting to stay out under the Safety Car to avoid a double stack and losing positions in the pits, Norris found himself leading for 5 laps and would drop down to 4th place where he would stay untroubled for most of the race as fellow pitter Hamilton kept Piastri behind.

  Pitting for softs at the end, Norris was unable to come close to Bearman and would have to settle for 8th place. A good weekend but in comparison to his team-mate, Lando would have expected a much better weekend especially if he wants to fully establish himself as the first driver in McLaren.

Nico Hulkenberg - 7

Qualified: 15th Finished: 10th

 An engine problem in Q2 would set Hulkenberg back into 15th for the race, which was disappointing considering he has strong qualifying pace.

 The safety car caused by Lance Stroll's crash changed everything, Haas opted to keep Hulk out which would turn out to be a genius play. Holding off rookie Bearman in a quicker car for a lot of laps was strong, but would eventually be passed due to his aging tyres.

 A stellar team performance from Magnussen would mean that Hulkenberg would have a safe gap to make his mandatory pit-stop and still come out ahead of the rest of the field and keep his 10th place spot.

 Holding onto 10th until the chequered flag, Hulk secured Haas' first point of the season. A good confidence boost for the American team as they are the only team outside the top teams to score a point this year, a surprise to the majority of fans as they had expected it to be RB to hold that title.

Oscar Piastri - 7.5

Qualified: 5th Finished: 4th

 A mighty qualifying for Oscar Piastri meant that he would line up in fifth place and ahead of his team-mate Norris.

 The young Aussie had a good race, but it was massively hampered as he spent almost all of it inspecting the rear wing of Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes. Failing to get past on numerous occasions and even locking wide and going deep into turn 1 in a desperate attempt to gain the place.

 After Hamilton pit, Oscar could finally breathe and cruise home to secure a strong P4 for McLaren, and 5th in the standings for now.

 A good race to gain momentum and he hopes to carry it forward for the remainder of the season.

Fernando Alonso - 8.5

Qualified: 4th  Finished: 5th

 In a car that is undoubtedly the slowest out of the top five teams this season, Fernando Alonso showed why he is still one of the best drivers on the grid by putting the Aston Martin into fourth in qualifying. 

 After Bahrain, many may expect him to fall behind as he did in Bahrain but Fernando would prove otherwise. Only losing a position to the McLaren of Piastri, he would stay ahead of his main competitor of the race which was George Russell and bring the Aston Martin home to fifth position in a car that arguably had no right to be up there.

 A strong performance from Fernando who had a quiet yet amazing performance and if he can keep outperforming the car, he could bid a fight for the championship spots with the McLaren and Mercedes drivers.

Oliver Bearman - 8.5

Qualified: 11th Finished: 7th

 When young Ollie Bearman woke up in his hotel in Jeddah, taking a sip of his coffee (or tea) his primary thoughts would be on how his Formula 2 race weekend would go. With the Brit qualifying on pole and having to start in P10 for the Sprint Race on Friday.

  The last thing he would expect was a phone call from Fred Vasseur telling him that he would be rushed into an F1 car for the first time in his career and become the youngest driver to race for Ferrari in the Italian team's 95 year history. Which was what he got.

  With little practice and little time, Bearman would make a good impression. He would miss out on Q3 and outqualifying fellow Brit Lewis Hamilton by 0.036 seconds, which is impressive for a young driver who didn't expect to be in an F1 car at all.

  The race would only go up for Bearman, getting himself into the points positions and learning along the way. Despite getting held up by Hulkenberg for a handful of laps, once he got passed he was consistently on the pace of Russell and Alonso ahead, though he was unable to close in on either of them.

  Late race pit stops from Norris and Hamilton meant that Bearman would be promoted to 7th position, but the fresh softs on his countrymen was something for the 18 year-old driver to be wary of especially considering the experience and speed the two men chasing him have had and shown throughout their careers. 

  Despite all of that, he did not come anywhere close to losing the position and would finish in a fine 7th place on his debut.

  All in all, a good race of learning and experience gaining for Ollie Bearman, teams up and down the paddock are sure to take note of his performance and he has more than proven himself worthy of a full-time drive in the very near future.

Charles Leclerc - 9

Qualified: 2nd Finished: 3rd

 With his team-mate out with appendicitis for the weekend, Charles Leclerc had heaps of pressure taken off his shoulders. He did what he did best over one lap and qualified on the front row alongside Max, though the Ferrari on race trim is significantly slower than the Red Bulls.

  Charles stayed out of trouble for the whole race, no threats as he maintained a safe gap and even got fastest lap of the race on the very last lap to top it off.

  Overall, a solid drive from Charles who's solid start propels him to third in the championship behind the Red Bull duo. With Perez showing poor mid season form in the past, Leclerc could be there to pick up the pieces and finish in second place in the championship for only the second time in his career.

Sergio Perez - 9

Qualified: 3rd  Finished: 2nd

 An almost ideal race for Checo, getting P2 off Leclerc in the early stages of the race and keeping a good distance for a comfortable finish in spite of a five-second time penalty.

 His qualifying paints a different portrait as he has not qualified on the front row since Miami 2022, and with a dominant car around him, he needs to touch up on his one lap pace in order to avoid being stuck behind slower cars in the early parts of the race and potentially pose as a threat to his invincible team-mate.

 The start of the season should be a massive confidence boost, especially when he witnessed the man who is the top candidate to take his seat spin right in front of him at turn 1.

Max Verstappen - 9.5

Qualified: 1st  Finished: 1st

  A typical Max Verstappen performance. Starting on pole and barely receiving any threat at the start, pulling away from 2nd place right on time before DRS gets activated on lap 2, and then proceeding to be in a world of his own and take another victory.

  With his only bother being the McLaren of Norris, who opted to stay out after an early Safety Car, he passed him mostly untroubled at the start-finish straight with the aid of DRS and since then, the only time his main rivals would see him is in parc ferme celebrating with his team.

  Nothing surprising from the Dutchman, with the only thing bringing him down this race is that it was not a total lights-to-flag victory we are all equipped to seeing.

  Another dominant season awaits, to the dismay of other drivers, teams and fans around the world. But for Max, it's a good opportunity on him to maximize his stats with this race being his 100th podium. With many races and years Max has left, more domination will only mean a better career to look back on.