Up Next
Our Formula 1 writer Edd Straw ranks how the field of grand prix racers fared on their second consecutive weekend of track action at the Red Bull Ring.
Join us at 1pm UK time for a live Q&A discussion of these ratings in the comments section below this article.
Started: 1st
Finished: 1st
Qualifying
Practice laps: 56
Gap to team-mate: -1.428s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.218s
Even by Hamilton’s virtuoso wet-weather standards, this was a virtuoso performance that stands alongside the great qualifying laps. When Hamilton suggests a lap is “close to perfect” – and this from a driver who believes the perfect lap isn’t possible – you know how remarkable it was.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: 0
1 stop: soft/medium
Having done the hard work on Saturday, Hamilton reaped the reward with a straightforward victory. But he still had to ensure he didn’t put a foot wrong even though he was never seriously challenged.
Verdict: One of the great pole laps compensates for any feeling his Sunday was too straightforward.
Started: 4th
Finished: 2nd
Qualifying
Practice laps: 67
Gap to team-mate: +1.428s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.297s
Bottas faced twin troubles in qualifying – a glazed front-right brake disc and being compared against one of the very greatest wet-weather drivers in the same car. In the circumstances, he did an adequate job made to look poor by an extraordinary team-mate.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: –
1 stop: soft/medium
Bottas did what he needed to do in the race by passing both Sainz and Verstappen to recover to second place. But he never got into a situation where he could think about threatening Hamilton.
Verdict: Qualifying was so-so but Bottas did exactly what he needed to in the race to recover to second.
Started: 10th
Finished: DNF
Qualifying
Practice laps: 65
Gap to team-mate: -0.083s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.016s
Made Q3 unlike the previous week and outpaced Leclerc after making progress with the car during practice. But the Ferrari proved tricky in qualifying, leading to a spin in Q3, so doing better than 10th was always an uphill struggle.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: retired lap 1
0 stops: soft
His race lasted a grand total of three corners before being hit by his team-mate, although he had slipped from 10th on the grid to 12th and was under pressure from Kvyat when he was skittled by Leclerc.
Verdict: Qualifying was good, although the race wasn’t going so well in the seconds before he was eliminated!
Started: 14th
Finished: DNF
Qualifying
Practice laps: 63
Gap to team-mate: +0.083s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.151s
Leclerc struggled in qualifying and admitted he didn’t drive as well as he could, compounded by a deserved grid penalty for impeding Kvyat in Q2 despite adequate warning from the Ferrari pitwall. The wet should have presented a better opportunity.
Race
Penalties: +3 grid drop (impeding Kvyat in Q2)
Positions gained/lost lap 1: up 2
0 stops: soft
Leclerc will rue the moment he decided to send his Ferrari down a Turn 3 cul-de-sac as he took an overly aggressive approach to the first lap, leading to both Ferraris retiring.
Verdict: Qualifying was OK but his first-lap blunder dominates the thinking for this rating.
Started: 2nd
Finished: 3rd
Qualifying
Practice laps: 58
Gap to team-mate: -0.522s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.075s
Looked a serious pole position threat until Q3, where worsening conditions led to him battling huge amounts of wheelspin. His final run was a little scruffy as a result, with the last-lap Turn 9 spin partly contributed to by the distraction of Vettel pitting.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: –
1 stop: soft/medium
Clouting the Turn 9 kerb early on cost him performance, as although Verstappen himself didn’t feel it the resultant wing damage was a big problem and the team could see a loss of downforce and balance shift. It certainly didn’t help him in his futile ‘chase’ of Hamilton and left him unable to hold off Bottas.
Verdict: Qualifying spin and Turn 9 kerb-rattling early in the race make this a scruffy weekend.
Started: 6th
Finished: 4th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 57
Gap to team-mate: +0.522s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.298s
Didn’t have the pace in the wet to match Verstappen, but he did have the speed to have taken third place but for his spin in Q3. But sixth at least ensured he didn’t qualify too far out of position.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: up 1
1 stop: soft/medium
Albon’s race was subdued, losing a second a lap to Verstappen in the first stint but at least stemming the losses after his pitstop. At one stage, he looked a sitting duck in battle with Perez but he held firm to ensure he didn’t lose the fourth place he gain by passing Ocon and Sainz early on.
Verdict: On paper, the qualifying and race results were decent, but the pace deficit to Verstappen was worrying.
Started: 9th
Finished: 5th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 56
Gap to team-mate: +0.254s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.258s
Norris was confident in the wet conditions, especially as they gave him a respite from the pain he felt under braking, but a mistake in Q3 cost him a shot at a better position. Even so, sixth-fastest in difficult conditions was a decent enough result.
Race
Penalties: +3 grid drop (overtaking under yellow flags in FP1)
Positions gained/lost lap 1: 0
1 stop: soft/medium
The early stages of the race didn’t look promising as he was shuffled down to 11th early on by the Racing Points then got stuck in a DRS train. But running long on softs put him in a good position to attack in the final 32 laps. He quickly passed Raikkonen for ninth before Sainz was ordered to let him past – over a 10-lap period during the chase Norris averaged 0.450s faster than his team-mate – and picked off Ricciardo after Stroll’s lunge on the penultimate lap. Getting Stroll on the last lap allowed him to chase down the ailing Perez and nab fifth.
Verdict: Friday brought a stupid penalty, Saturday a solid qualifying but Sunday a superb race – and all while dosed up on painkillers.
Started: 3rd
Finished: 9th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 85
Gap to team-mate: -0.254s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.532s
Sainz looked at ease in the wet conditions in qualifying and nailed a superb final lap in Q3 to grab a stunning third place, showing superb feel and judgement.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: 0
1 stop: soft/medium
The first stint went well, holding fifth place after inevitably being passed by Bottas and Albon. But the slow pitstop proved desperately costly, not just in terms of the Racing Points and Ricciardo getting ahead, but also Sainz subsequently over-using his tyres trying to fight them. That led to Norris closing him down in the closing stages and being ordered past. A possible fifth before the pitstop became ninth with fastest lap.
Verdict: Brilliant in qualifying, but his race was ruined by the slow pitstop that cost him a likely P5.
Started: 8th
Finished: 8th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 34
Gap to team-mate: +0.270s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.296s
By his own admission, Ricciardo was ‘spooked’ early in qualifying but he recovered well to take eighth, although he couldn’t quite show the kind of pace his team-mate did.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: Up 1
1 stop: medium/soft
Opted for an inverted strategy starting on mediums then switching to softs, holding seventh early on before being ordered past soft-shod Ocon. He could do nothing about Perez’s charge, but did an inch-perfect job to keep Stroll at bay for lap after lap before being lunged at Turn 3, which turned sixth with a shot at fifth thanks to Perez’s late problem into eighth at the flag.
Verdict: A little off Ocon in the wet, but was excellent in the dry and probably would have been fifth without Stroll’s divebomb.
Started: 5th
Finished: DNF
Qualifying
Practice laps: 67
Gap to team-mate: -0.270s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.094s
Ocon drove beautifully throughout qualifying and was on a lap that might have put him third despite having to run on used wets in Q3 before getting out of shape at the end of the lap. The first star turn of his F1 comeback.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: Down 1
O stops: soft
Held sixth before being ordered to let Ricciardo past, but not before mounting a very robust defence against his team-mate. Unfortunately, a radiator problem forced him out while running seventh.
Verdict: Drove superbly in the wet and would have been in the mix for a top-six finish had the car not cooked.
Started: 7th
Finished: 15th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 64
Gap to team-mate: -0.973s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.025s
Gasly capitalised on the wet conditions to qualifying seventh, making him another one of the stars of a qualifying session that let the best shine. It looked like he had the edge on Kvyat on single-lap pace in the dry too.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: Down 1
2 stops: soft/hard/soft
Gasly was in trouble from the first corner, when he was given a clout in the right-rear by Ricciardo. He couldn’t have done anything to avoid that, but the resulting damage meant the car “felt strange”, leading to accelerated tyre use and, having run an illusory eighth early on, he was forced onto a two-stop race that led to nowhere.
Verdict: A qualifying star whose race was doomed by the Turn 1 hit from Ricciardo.
Started: 13th
Finished: 10th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 62
Gap to team-mate: +0.973s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.582s
Kvyat made a strong start to qualifying in Q1, but couldn’t build on that in Q2 and struggled to find the maximum of what grip was available, leaving him 13th.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: Down 1
1 stop: medium/hard
Kvyat finished between the leading midfield group and the ‘Class C’ battle led by the Haas drivers, which is exactly where an AlphaTauri should be. Once he’d got back past Magnussen for 12th after slipping behind him at the start, Ocon’s retirement and Gasly’s tyre troubles gave him a well-deserved point
Verdict: While not the quicker AlphaTauri driver, he executed the race well.
Started: 17th
Finished: 6th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 75
Gap to team-mate: +1.910s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.658s
Had a horrible run in Q1 as he couldn’t get the tyres switched on and never looked like he was going to break into the top 15 needed to advance. But as Stroll showed, it was possible to have done so with the equipment.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: 0
1 stop: soft/medium
Perez made life hard for himself by gaining nothing on the first lap, beyond the two places gifted to him by the Ferrari wipeout. But from 15th he was quick, incisive and hauled himself into contention for an unlikely fourth place. Traffic in the form of Russell’s Williams perhaps cost him his best chance of getting Albon when he first caught him, but in the end he was too over-eager and hit the Red Bull at Turn 4. The resulting wing damage meant he could only limp home over the final two laps and a half. but he wisely ignored a call to box and salvaged sixth – just – after being passed by Norris. His superb pass on Sainz at Turn 6 was the best of the race.
Verdict: Qualifying and the Albon clash significantly damage his rating in what was otherwise a brilliant performance.
Started: 12th
Finished: 7th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 79
Gap to team-mate: -1.910s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.162s
Fared better than his team-mate in wet conditions he usually thrives in, but he couldn’t get the tyres working either and wasn’t a Q3 threat.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: Up 1
1 stop: soft/medium
Stroll passed Russell, Norris and Gasly in the early stages of the race, but from then on his race was largely one of staring at rear wings. He lost a place to Perez along the way, but couldn’t match his team-mate’s incisiveness and spent the second stint stuck behind Ricciardo before lunging on the last lap and asking too much of his brakes – although he did make the pass work and the stewards allowed it. He then missed out on taking sixth from Perez by 0.066s.
Verdict: Better than Perez in qualifying, less incisive in the race and was fortunate to get away without punishment for his Ricciardo move.
Started: 16th
Finished: 11th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 46
Gap to team-mate: -0.459s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.494s
His qualifying performance was a little subdued, although he might well have had the pace to make Q2 but for the interruptions of yellow flags and the eventual red flag. He also made a far better fist of it than team-mate Giovinazzi.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: Down 4
1 stop: medium/soft
Raikkonen was held up massively by the colliding Ferraris and dropped to the back, but he passed Latifi and the Haas drivers during a long first stint on mediums. After stopping at the end of lap 44, he then used the softs to pass Magnussen and Gasly before being ordered past Giovinazzi, although fuel concerns meant he was then on an economy run.
Verdict: Last place to the best-possible finish for Alfa Romeo was a strong drive after the missed opportunity of qualifying.
Started: 19th
Finished: 14th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 36
Gap to team-mate: +0.459s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.753s
Q1 started promisingly, but in the end he over-reached and went off while chasing a Q2 place in the closing stages, having got out of shape on the Turn 9 entry kerb. A missed opportunity.
Race
Penalties: +5 grid drop (gearbox)
Positions gained/lost lap 1: Up 4
1 stop: medium/soft
Had a solid race, but was ordered to let the quicker Raikkonen on fresh rubber through late on and ended up slipping behind both Haas drivers.
Verdict: The underlying single-lap pace is there, but top race pace and qualifying execution wasn’t.
Started: 20th (pits)
Finished: 13th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 69
Gap to team-mate: N/A
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: N/A
Qualifying was ruined by a problem with the water pump in the ERS, restricting him to a single installation lap. No conclusions to be made here, especially as his Turn 4 off was thanks to resulting braking trouble.
Race
Penalties: 0
Positions gained/lost lap 1: Up 1
1 stop: soft/medium
From the back, Grosjean had a much easier race than at the same circuit a week earlier, managing the brake cooling well and avoiding getting caught up in battles with team-mate Magnussen. The result was a solid 12th place after passing Giovinazzi in the closing stages.
Verdict: Qualifying was non-existent, but he executed his race well in limited machinery.
Started: 15th
Finished: 12th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 39
Gap to team-mate: N/A
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.380s
Turned in a solid qualifying performance to put the Haas about where it could have been at best in the dry, although given the conditions he probably missed an opportunity to have slipped into Q2.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: Up 2
1 stop: soft/medium
Climbed as high as 11the early on, with attacking at the start “my only weapon”, then managed the tyres well and cooperated effectively with team-mate Grosjean. Having been ordered past Grosjean late on, he passed Giovinazzi then closed on fuel-limited Raikkonen but couldn’t get ahead.
Verdict: A decent qualifying followed by another well-executed race despite the car’s limitations.
Started: 18th
Finished: 17th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 55
Gap to team-mate: +1.377s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.531s
Showed genuine pace in the wet and would have made Q2 but for being thwarted by yellow and red flags. A fine qualifying performance that wasn’t reflected on the timesheets.
Race
Penalties: 0
Positions gained/lost lap 1: 0
1 stop: medium/soft
Latifi briefly ran 15th early on before slipping back behind Raikkonen and Grosjean, but having been handed a track position advantage over Russell he held his team-mate back until there were 16-and-a-half laps to go. While running the reverse tyre strategy to Russell helped him, this was a good, solid run.
Verdict: Qualifying showed his pace in the wet and he made a real fight of it with Russell once ahead.
Started: 11th
Finished: 16th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 34
Gap to team-mate: -1.377s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.189s
Finally, Russell made it to Q2 and it’s a sign of how good he is that he almost turned that into a place in the top 10. While Latifi also showed good pace, Russell took the Williams to an even higher level and showed why he’s so highly rated.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: Down 1
1 stop: soft/medium
Russell made a good start and was very briefly as high as ninth on the opening lap having nosed ahead of Norris and held 11th under the early safety car. But his attack on Norris and Stroll at the restart backfired and allowed Magnussen to attack. Russell’s bold attempt to repass him on the outside of Turn 6 resulted in a trip through the gravel and a drop to last, after which he spent a chunk of the race behind Latifi before passing his team-mate easily on the run to Turn 4 with 18 laps left.
Verdict: Brilliant in qualifying but his aggressive cameo early on led to a costly off.
