Azerbaijan GP driver ratings: The worst weekend for Max Verstappen in six years?
ltxcn.top's F1 driver ratings following🍸 an exciting Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Oscar Piastri - 10
Piastri delivered a masterclass in Azerbaijan to take his second career vi꧃ctory. His overtake on Leclerc was stunning, while his defending for the rest of the race was exemplary.
Charles Leclerc - 9
Leclerc produced yet another perfect pole lap in Baku. For the first part of t🌺he race, it looked like it was going to be a comfortable afternoon for the Monegasque, building a five-second lead. The Ferrari looked less comfortable on the hards, losing out to Piastri into Turn 1 later on. He was unable to get back ahead before being put under threat by Perez and Sainz behind in the closing laps.
George Russell - 8.5
Russell extracted the maximum from the Mercedes in Azerbaijan. Fifth on the grid was followed up by a slightly fortunate podi♏um finish. He did overtake Verstappen on track as well.
Lando Norris - 8
Norrisꦿ was unfortunate to get knocked out in Q1 with the timing of the yellow flag. He recovered well to finish ahead of his main title rival.
Max Verstappen - 6
A shockin⛦g weekend on the whole for Verstappen, who blamed a poor setup choice. He was comparatively out-paced by teammate Perez in Baku.
Fernando Alonso - 8.5
Alonso produced a great lap t♏o make it into Q3🐽, and beat both Williams drivers. Like he usually does, he extracted the most from the Aston Martin on race day to come away with a big haul of points.
Alex Albon - 8
Albon sc𓆉ored Williams’ best result of the year in eighth. Albon showed great pace by going long on the hard tyres, fending off from Norris, Verstappen and Russell.
Franco Colapinto - 8.5
Colapinto continues to impress. The Argentine was arguably the star of qualifying, making Q3 in only his second F﷽1 race.
Lewis Hamilton - 6
Like Verstappen, Hamilton endured a poor weekend in Azerbaijan. He blamed a faulty component𒉰 for his Q3 showing, while his race chances were ruined by a pit lane start due to a PU change.
Oliver Bearman - 8
Bearman was sensational in qualifying, getting one over Hulkenberg. The Haas driver struggled in t♌he first part of the race for pace. He was then fortunate to get ahead of H♒ulkenberg on the penultimate lap, getting past into Turn 3 once they drove past the debris caused by Sainz and Perez.
Nico Hulkenberg - 7
Hulkenberg was beaten by rookie stand-in teammate in qualifying. He w🎃as on course to pick up a point heading onto Lap 50, but lost out to Bearman.
Pierre Gasly - 7.5
A fairly good weekend from Gasly, who was clearly the quicker of the ꦉtwo Alpine drivers. His so✅lid qualifying display was ruined by a disqualification due to a fuel flow breach. He raced well to finish just outside the points.
Daniel Ricciardo - 6.5
An underwhജelming weekend for Ricciardo overall. He was the weaker ꦉof the two RB drivers and put together an anonymous weekend.
Zhou Guanyu - 6.5
Zhou’s fate was sealed ahead of qualifying after Sauber opted to take a new engine. Instead, he played the team game, giving Bottas a lovely slipstream on the Finn’s best lap. Zhou dro﷽ve a solid race, ultimately finishing ahead of Bottas🐻 after overtaking him twice.
Esteban Ocon - 6
A bit of a disastrous week🦩end for Ocon, whose running was limited throughout practice
Valtteri Bottas - 6
Bottas’ꦍ qualifying form continues to be impressive - but it wasn’t enough to get through 🙈to Q2.
Sergio Perez - 8.5
There’s no doubt that 🦋Azerbaijan💯 was Perez’s strongest weekend of the year. He was comfortably Red Bull’s best driver, leading Verstappen by over 20 seconds before his unfortunate retirement.
Carlos Sainz - 8
While Sainz was a step behind Leclerc🌞 in overall pace terms, his tyre management and race day display was strong. The incident with Perez was a shame, with the stewards⛦ labelling it a racing incident.
Lance Stroll - 6
Stroll’s afternoon 🌄was ruined after contact with Tsunoda on Lap ജ1.
Yuki Tsunoda - 5.5
After qualifying well, contact with Stroll on Lap 1 made﷽ him the first retirement.
In this article

With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the he𝕴artbeat of our unbiased reporting.