Azerbaijan GP: Driver's Ratings

Hami
Hamilton now leads the driver's championship

The 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix proved to show another twist in this year's driver's championship.

Championship leader, at the start of the day, Sebastian Vettel was leading most of the race but after the pitstops, it went all wrong for the German.

Vettel had to settle for fourth place after his attempts to overtake Valtteri Bottas did not go to plan after a lock-up on the first corner.

The last few laps saw Bottas retire after taking a puncture to one of his back tyres after catching debris on the track.

This handed Force India's Sergio Perez the eighth podium of his Formula 1 career by finishing in third place.

As well as Hamilton winning for the first time in Baku, the other main headline was the two Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen colliding on the main straight seeing both retire from the race.

Let's check out the driver's ratings for the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.


#1 Williams

Azerbaijan F1 Grand Prix
Sirotkin crashed out on the opening lap

Lance Stroll - 8th

The Canadian has good memories from last year's when he finished third for Williams.

But it looked very unlikely Stroll would repeat that performance after the poor start Williams have so far suffered from the opening three races.

However, Sunday's race was a good day for the Williams team thanks to Stroll for finishing in eighth place to collect the team's first points of the season.

Williams are still bottom in the constructors' championship but now they have momentum behind them going into the Spanish Grand Prix in two week's time.

Driver's rating: 6/10

Sergey Sirotkin - DNF

Sergey Sirotkin had a very brief contribution to the race after going out of the race in the opening lap.

The Russian was in a sandwich position with Fernando Alonso to his left and one of the Renault cars to his right. All three collided leaving Sirotkin's car with a puncture to his front left tyre.

It is Sirotkin's second retirement of the season after not finishing in the Australian Grand Prix last month.

Driver's rating: 1/10

#2 Sauber

Azerbaijan F1 Grand Prix - Previews
Leclerc had the performance of his life on Sunday

Charles Leclerc - 6th

The race sure did have it's fair share of twists and turns and Charles Leclerc's sixth-place finish for Sauber Ferrari was one of many highlights of the day.

This is Leclerc's first ever season in F1 at the age of 20 and the Monegasque has already been linked to Ferrari for next year.

And he sure showed why by finishing in sixth place for a team that has struggled to get top ten over the last few seasons.

Driver's rating: 8/10

Marcus Ericsson - 11th

After a dramatic opening lap for most drivers, Marcus Ericsson had a quiet race from then on and finished just outside the points positions.

The Swedish driver would have wanted to have brought home a point along with Leclerc's impressive drive but it was not meant to be in Baku.

Driver's rating: 5/10

#3 Haas

Azerbaijan F1 Grand Prix
Not a great weekend in Baku for the Haas team

Kevin Magnussen - 13th

At the start of the season, Haas looked to be one of the teams to watch out for but their race in the land of fire will want to be forgotten quickly.

Magnussen started the race in 17th after a poor qualifying performance and despite finishing four places higher it doesn't benefit much for the Dane and his team.

Driver's rating: 4/10

Romain Grosjean - DNF

If there is one thing we have learnt from Romain Grosjean this year it is how emotional the Frenchman can be.

During qualifying on Saturday, Grosjean had a gearbox problem and this left him nearly crying his eyes out on the side of the track.

Sunday's race was the perfect opportunity for Grosjean to sweep Saturday under the carpet.

Sadly for the 32-year-old that would not be the case.

With just nine laps remaining and with all cars following a safety car, Grosjean made a simple error by smashing his car into the barrier while warming up his tyres.

Grosjean screamed in frustration on the team radio and would, later on, throw his gloves in the garage with anger.

Driver's rating: 1/10

#4 Toro Rosso

Azerbaijan F1 Grand Prix
Hartley the only one for Toro Rosso scoring a point in Baku

Brendon Hartley - 10th

It was a mixed weekend for the New Zealander.

Qualifying had Hartley getting in the way of Pierre Gasly's racing line costing the team to qualify well for Sunday.

But Hartley's quiet Sunday drive in Baku secured him his first point of the season by finishing in 10th place after starting in 15th.

Driver's rating: 6/10

Pierre Gasly - 12th

Gasly would have hoped for better in Azerbaijan but some of that was denied by his teammate of Hartley after Saturday's debacle between the two.

The Frenchman started 10th but could not go beyond and instead finished two places below.

Bahrain is so far the only race Gasly has finished in the points zone and will want to improve in Barcelona next month.

Driver's rating: 4/10

#5 Force India

European F1 Grand Prix
Two podium finishes for Perez in Azerbaijan

Sergio Perez - 3rd

Two years ago, Sergio Perez finished third in the inaugural Azerbaijan Grand Prix and now two years on the Mexican repeated that performance.

Perez may want to thank Valtteri Bottas for his punctured tyre with few laps remaining to steal that podium position.

But yet again Perez brings glory to the Force India team.

Sunday's third-place finish was Perez's eighth podium of his F1 career and his fifth top three finish for Force India.

Driver's rating: 7/10

Esteban Ocon - DNF

Ocon's race did not even last an entire lap after a collision with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen on turn five.

The Frenchman will be disappointed not to add to Perez's 15 points from third place.

And Azerbaijan was Ocon's first retirement of the season, the same amount of DNFs he recorded last year.

Driver's rating: 1/10

#6 Renault

Azerbaijan F1 Grand Prix - Previews
Azerbaijan and Hulkenberg don't get on very well

Carlos Sainz - 5th

The partnership of Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg is a promising one and the Spaniard proved that on Sunday with a strong fifth-place finish.

Renault are contenders for that fourth spot in the constructors' championship and with the retirement of Hulkenberg early on in the race, Sainz's result will be very important when the team look back.

Driver's rating: 6/10

Nico Hulkenberg - DNF

It seems as though the German and the Baku Street Circuit do not get on when it comes to race day.

After just 10 laps Hulkenberg spun on one of the corners causing the rear end of the car to bash into the barrier.

There was too much damage for the car to continue racing.

The German has had great finishes in sixth and seventh in the three previous races but Azerbaijan was his first retirement of the 2018 campaign.

#7 McLaren

Azerbaijan F1 Grand Prix
Alonso had a nasty start to the race

Fernando Alonso - 7th

Alonso had a terrible start when himself, Sirotkin and one of the Renaults collided in the opening lap.

This left the two-time world champion with a double puncture to his front right and rear right tyres. But Alonso was able to take the car into the pits for the mechanics to quickly fix the problem.

Despite the incident, Alonso impressed by finishing seventh to score six more points for McLaren in the constructor's championship.

Driver's rating: 6/10

Stoffel Vandoorne - 9th

When you look at the first four races for Stoffel Vandoorne, he has had calm races where he has avoided any DNFs and has scored points in three out of the four races in 2018.

The Belgian will be happy to add more points for McLaren's aim to finish fourth in the constructor's championship.

Driver's rating: 5/10

#8 Red Bull

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A similar image to the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix

Daniel Ricciardo - DNF

Ricciardo started the race in the fourth position and was hoping to add to his race victory from China a couple of weeks ago.

The Australian was throughout battling with his teammate Max Verstappen then every F1 team's nightmares broke loose.

On lap 39 Ricciardo and Verstappen were battling it out on the main straight and just before they approached turn one - Ricciardo went into the back of Verstappen's car retiring both drivers.

Driver's rating: 1/10

Max Verstappen - DNF

Just like Ricciardo, Verstappen was having a great race until the unpleasantry with his teammate.

Ricciardo looks to be the responsible one for the crash but the Dutchman will be disappointed not to finish the day with at least a top-five finish.

Verstappen has now had two DNFs in the opening four races and has a lot to do to have any chance of competing for the driver's championship.

Driver's rating: 1/10

#9 Mercedes

After four
It's Mercedes' first win of the season

Lewis Hamilton - 1st

The start of the 2018 season has been a tough one for the current world champion but Sunday's first win of the campaign will be a sense of relief.

Hamilton had a similarly bad start last year but was able to make up for it and win his fourth world championship to deny Sebastian Vettel a fifth crown.

After the problems the Briton had with Vettel on the Baku Street Circuit nearly than 12 months ago, Hamilton will be delighted to get his first ever win in the land of fire.

Driver's rating: 7/10

Valtteri Bottas - DNF

The man from Finland will want to forget Sunday's race very quickly.

Especially when he knew he could have won Mercedes their first win of the year instead of Hamilton completing the job instead.

It was going so well for Bottas after the pitstops which saw him go ahead of Vettel.

But then Bottas was given the short straw when a piece of debris punctured his right rear tyre, retiring the Fin from the race.

Driver's rating: 1/10

#10 Ferrari

Vettel
Vettel missed out on increasing his championship lead

Kimi Raikkonen - 2nd

It is somewhat been a mixed weekend for Kimi Raikkonen.

His hot lap in qualifying was very close to placing him in pole position until he lost his steering causing heartbreak for the 2007 world champion.

Raikkonen had a bumpy start when he clashed into Ocon on the opening lap. The Force India driver had to retire but the collision was okay for Raikkonen's car as he was able to continue.

It is Raikkonen's third podium of the season so far but still can't get that race win for Ferrari since he rejoined the team in 2014.

Driver's rating: 6/10

Sebastian Vettel - 4th

It's a race that could have been something more for Sebastian Vettel after he missed out on winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for the very first time.

The man who claimed pole position the day before the race was controlling the race smoothly and looked to be the favourite to win his third race of the season.

But after the restart, it all went downhill for the four-time world champion.

Vettel did attempt to retake the lead when trying to overtake race leader Bottas on turn one but his tyres locked up and failed to take the number one position.

And with Perez beating the German to a podium place, Vettel will look back at the weekend as a missed opportunity to increase his lead in the driver's championship.

Driver's rating: 6/10

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