The Spanish Grand Prix produced one of Formula 1’s least exciting-to-watch winning drives, but it didn’t make that drive any less impressive.
That’s reflected in Edd Straw’s driver ratings scores, as are myriad underperformances further back.
Agree or disagree? You can debate Edd’s rankings with him live at 12.30pm UK time today in the comments at the bottom of the article.
Started: 1st Finished: 1st
Qualifying
Practice laps: 78
Gap to team-mate: -0.059s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
Hamilton described his first run at “solid” and was disappointed not to improve on it at the second attempt, saying that he lacked grip.
But given only one of the five drivers who had used fresh rubber on their first runs in Q3 did improve, the conditions appeared to be against him.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
2 stops – soft/medium/medium
This was a straightforward race win, but there were factors that elevated it beyond the normal (for an all-time great) dominant victory.
Firstly, the pace was supreme and Hamilton could pull out time any time he wanted and secondly he over-ruled the team when it wanted to put him on softs and instead ended up on the correct medium compound for the last stint. It didn’t make any real difference, but represented a driver completely in control.
VERDICT: Not his most emphatic pole, but the quality of the race drive was sky-high.
Started: 2nd Finished: 3rd
Qualifying
Practice laps: 84
Gap to team-mate: +0.059s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.058s
Bottas was just over a tenth up on Hamilton after the first two sectors of the lap, but the long Turn 12 right-hander proved to be the bane of his weekend as he couldn’t carry the same speed through it as his team-mate. That played a big part in that advantage turning to a slender disadvantage.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 2
3 stops – soft/medium/soft/medium
The start was everything for Bottas, as he got an average getaway and was swamped by Verstappen to the left and Stroll to the right.
He dispatched Stroll quickly enough without losing time to the top two, but ultimately could do nothing about Verstappen – although he might have a better chance had he done what Hamilton did and demanded mediums at his second stop. He took an easy fastest lap after a late stop for fresh rubber.
VERDICT: Pushed Hamilton all the way in qualifying, but his race wasn’t on the same level and the start costly.
Started: 11th Finished: 7th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 78
Gap to team-mate: +0.215s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.011s
While this was not a stunning qualifying performance, being on the wrong side of the Q2/Q3 split exaggerated Vettel’s gap to Leclerc, which was just over two-tenths. He was actually quicker in sector one, but lost time at Turn 5 and Turn 7 in particular that, on top of a very small moment in Turn 12, meant he couldn’t match Leclerc.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
1 stop – medium/soft
Vettel held 11th place at the start and spent the first part of the race under pressure from Kvyat. But he made a one-stopper – which he didn’t seem to know he was on given his aggro with the supposed mix messages from the pitwall both to push and manage the tyres – work.
Whatever actually happened there, despite a struggle in the closing laps he got to the end four places higher than he started, picking off Norris, Gasly and Albon thanks to strategy and gaining one more place to Leclerc’s retirement.
VERDICT: A much better weekend, as while qualifying was nothing special his race was very well-executed on a ‘backwards’ one-stopper.
Started: 9th Finished: DNF
Qualifying
Practice laps: 77
Gap to team-mate: -0.215s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.267s
Leclerc again had the edge over Vettel, but qualifying was perhaps a missed opportunity given the underlying pace was there to be three places higher. But the front-end limitation of the car troubled Leclerc, who wasn’t able to get it turned in as he wanted and just had to wait for the front end to respond.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
1 stop – soft/medium
Having held ninth in the first stint but run to lap 29 on his starting set of softs, he was well on course to match Vettel’s one-stopper and ahead of his team-mate at the time.
Given Leclerc was on mediums for the second stint, unlike Vettel, it would have been interesting to see how his race panned out had an electronic problem not led to the car shutting down when he struck the kerb at the chicane, causing a spin and, a few laps later, retirement.
VERDICT: Another strong weekend for Leclerc, but one that went unrewarded.
Started: 3rd Finished: 2nd
Qualifying
Practice laps: 69
Gap to team-mate: -0.737s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.018s
“Sometimes it feels like I have a subscription on P3,” was Verstappen’s verdict after ensuring he kept his nose ahead of the Racing Points in Q3, which was exactly the job he needed to do in qualifying with Mercedes well out of reach.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 1
2 stops – soft/medium/medium
Verstappen passed Bottas at Turn 1 but after spending the first 10 laps tracking Hamilton, it quickly became clear that the Red Bull didn’t have any weapons to fight him with.
With Verstappen quickly realising this, he called for a focus on the ‘real’ race, which was to stay ahead of Bottas.
VERDICT: Verstappen’s excellence turned third place into second, and not for the first time.
Started: 6th Finished: 8th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 75
Gap to team-mate: +0.737s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.047s
Back in the top six for the first time since the two season-opening events at the Red Bull Ring, but he never looked as confident as Verstappen behind the wheel.
Albon was solid enough in the first two sectors but overheating rears meant a messy run through Turn 12 and exiting the chicane. The result was that almost two-thirds of the big deficit to his team-mate was in the final sector.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
2 stops – soft/hard/medium
Albon ran sixth in the first stint but could have made a place or two at the start but for a wall of cars in front of him.
He was the first to stop at the end of lap 17 and was the only driver to use a set of hards, setting him on a difficult strategic path that ultimately cost two places – one to Sainz, who passed him on track, and one to one-stopping Vettel – as well as a shot at attacking the Racing Points. Having only having one set of mediums contributed to the strategy, but it put him in traffic and made his life much harder.
VERDICT: Qualifying is still not good enough, but the poor strategy that put him in traffic was a hospital pass.
Started: 8th Finished: 10th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 93
Gap to team-mate: +0.040s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.122s
Like the rest of the bottom five in Q3, Norris had only one set of fresh softs available at that point, but the lap got off to a bad start when the rear stepped out at the chicane at the end of his out-lap and he also had a slight lock-up at Turn 10. In the end, he only improved by 0.154s compared to his used-tyre run.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 2
2 stops – soft/soft/medium
Norris was alongside Sainz after a good launch, but their races diverged when Sainz picked up a big tow and was able to pull away. Gasly then went around the outside of Norris at Turn 1, with Leclerc passing him at Turn 3 to put Norris 10th.
He admitted he was perhaps a little conservative and given both Ferraris were one-stopping, he only scored a point thanks to Leclerc’s problem.
VERDICT: Being only four-hundredths off Sainz, who had a fresh engine advantage, on Saturday was a good effort but that conservative run through the first corners was costly.
Started: 7th Finished: 6th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 84
Gap to team-mate: -0.040s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.241s
His Silverstone cooling problems returned on Friday despite multiple car-build changes, including a chassis switch, but were solved by power unit changes ahead of Saturday. That not only got him back on terms with Norris on pace, but slightly ahead – assisted by the freshness of the engine components. A messy third sector on his on fresh-tyre Q3 lap cost him a place on the grid.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
2 stops – soft/soft/medium
This was just the race Sainz needed after his recent run of misfortune, making a good start and some timely passes.
He might even have been able to beat Perez thanks to the Racing Point driver’s five-second penalty, but he understandably took a little too long to get past the one-stopping Vettel. But even that wasn’t easy given the challenge of overtaking.
VERDICT: Qualifying could have been fractionally better, but needed a perfect race to have beaten Perez.
Started: 13th Finished: 11th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 77
Gap to team-mate: -0.369s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.103s
Ricciardo found himself in a tricky position in the queue and started the lap with the front tyre temperature lower than ideal, which contributed to a slow first two sectors. The pace was there to be in Q3, but the lap wasn’t – and perhaps should have been even with the warm-up trouble.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 1
1 stop – medium/soft
Made a poor start and briefly slipped behind Raikkonen, but attacked into Turn 1 and was briefly up to 11th ahead of Vettel before running wide at Turn 3. Struggling for grip in the fast corners, Ricciardo was then passed around the outside of Turn 4 by Kvyat on lap two before settling in for a one-stop strategy.
He executed it decently but it only added up to once place gain and 11th place as it allowed him to beat Kvyat.
VERDICT: A well-executed one-stopper, but points shot was lost to slight qualifying underachievement and wide moment on lap one.
Started: 15th Finished: 13th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 89
Gap to team-mate: +0.369s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.081s
How you evaluate Ocon’s qualifying is largely dependent on how significant you consider the power disadvantage he appears to have with tired power unit components around twice the age of Ricciardo’s. Certainly, Ocon feels it was costing him, although he was still giving a little away on minimum speed in corners.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 1
1 stop – medium/soft
His qualifying struggles carried over into the race, where he slipped to 16th behind Magnussen on the run to the first corner after finding his path blocked by team-mate Ricciardo.
Then he settled into a one-stopper, passing Magnussen in the second stint but finishing resoundingly at the back of the midfield group.
VERDICT: While there do appear to be legitimate problems, Ocon’s struggles appeared to augment them.
Started: 10th Finished: 9th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 79
Gap to team-mate: -0.392s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.336s
Gasly did a great job to get to Q3, where he then didn’t do such a great job on his one shot on fresh rubber after losing rear grip in the final sector – which led to the rear end misbehaving. Had he repeated his Q2 pace, he’d have been sixth.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 2
2 stops – soft/medium/medium
Gasly was briefly up to seventh after an attacking run into and through Turn 7 before slipping back behind Sainz.
He became stuck in a DRS train in the middle stint but chased Albon to the end through the “painful” final stint despite braking problems. Both ended up losing out to one-stopping Vettel.
VERDICT: Not nailing a good Q3 lap counts against him as it was costly, but drove a strong race in tricky conditions after a good first lap.
Started: 12th Finished: 12th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 75
Gap to team-mate: +0.392s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
As usual, he lagged behind Gasly in qualifying and felt he got the best out of the car factoring in the tyre warm-up not being as hoped.
Race
Penalties: +5s (blue flags)
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 1
2 stops – soft/medium/medium
Kvyat briefly slipped to 13th after dropping behind Ricciardo before pulling a great move around the outside of the Renault at Turn 4 on lap two. But that was about it as far as his race was concerned.
He held 12th, gained a place to Leclerc’s troubles, but slipped behind the one-stopping Ricciardo after making his second visit to the pits and couldn’t repass him. Not that it would have mattered as he had a five-second penalty for ignoring blue flags.
VERDICT: Profoundly 12th, which is about par for the car, but wasn’t able to perform at Gasly’s level.
Started: 4th Finished: 5th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 86
Gap to team-mate: -0.107s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.049s
The returning Perez didn’t look like he’d missed anything having skipped the previous two races at Silverstone thanks to COVID-19. Perez was the only one of the five drivers who had two sets of fresh tyres in Q3 to improve on their second run, extending his slender advantage over Stroll to just over a tenth.
Race
Penalties: +5s (ignoring blue flags)
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 1
1 stop – soft/medium
Perez got a mediocre launch, which allowed Stroll to jump him, but he made up for it through Turn 1/2 and even momentarily nosed ahead of Bottas.
He settled into fifth place and went for a one-stopper, which put him ahead of Stroll on-the-road but a five-second penalty for ignoring blue flags, which seemed a little harsh, meant he dropped back behind his team-mate. But he did have the pace on old rubber to stay far enough clear of Sainz, with a little help from the McLaren driver being held up by Vettel.
VERDICT: On form despite his enforced break and unlucky to lose a place to the blue flag penalty.
Started: 5th Finished: 4th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 86
Gap to team-mate: +0.107s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.147s
Stroll did a good job in qualifying to get so close to Perez, and would have been even closer but for time lost in the final sector when he ran wide at Turn 10.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 2
2 stops – soft/medium/soft
A great start and thrusting pass on Bottas got him up to third for a few laps but it was inevitable the Mercedes would repass him.
Thereafter, he executed the race well, dropping behind Perez thanks to making one more stop and taking a little too long to clear the one-stopping Vettel, but he retook fourth thanks to his team-mate’s penalty.
VERDICT: Qualifying was good and the race was strong to the best-possible result.
Started: 14th Finished: 14th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 77
Gap to team-mate: -0.900s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
Raikkonen described Saturday as the first positive day of the season after reaching Q2 and for the first time this year he looked more assured behind the wheel than his team-mate in a dry qualifying session.
But he had cause to regret the team deciding to burn an extra set of softs and retain a set of hards on Friday as it left him without a fresh set for Q2. Fourteenth on a used set, just 0.218s off 10th, shows his claim Q3 was possible isn’t ridiculous.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 1
2 stops – medium/medium/soft
Raikkonen went aggressive at the start and did a brilliant job to make it through Turn 1 squeezed between Kvyat and Magnussen, then had a go at passing Vettel around the outside of Turn 3!
That didn’t work, but it was a moment through Turn 7 that cost him momentum and allowed Magnussen to make a key pass. This defined Raikkonen’s race and it wasn’t until a charging final stint having finally switched to softs that he could really let rip.
VERDICT: His sharpest weekend of the year, but the first-lap moment that allowed Magnussen past shaped his race.
Started: 20th Finished: 16th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 77
Gap to team-mate: +0.900s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.175s
There’s an asterisk against Giovinazzi’s qualifying performance given he damaged the floor at the end of his first Q1 flier by skating across the top of the sausage kerb exiting the chicane.
The nine-tenths gap is an outlier but even before that he never looked like a match for Raikkonen and the fact the floor wasn’t on the FIA’s list of items changed suggested maybe the damage wasn’t a problem.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 1
2 stops – medium/medium/soft
Giovinazzi’s race performance was more convincing and actually similar to Raikkonen’s, just with the disadvantage of starting at the back.
He picked off Latifi at the start and followed his team-mate through Russell and Grosjean in the final stint, but fell a lap or two short of getting ahead of Magnussen as well.
VERDICT: Qualifying was poor given the run-one error at the chicane, but his race was a little better than it looked.
Started: 17th Finished: 19th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 72
Gap to team-mate: +0.181s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.202s
Grosjean went from hero on Friday, when he genuinely believed Q3 was possible, to zero on Saturday as the change in conditions appeared to dial in more understeer that he struggled to cope with. As is often the case, that shift in balance led to him slipping behind Magnussen.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
2 stops – medium/soft/soft
He tried a one-stopper that didn’t really work, was twice passed by Russell’s Williams and also had contact with Giovinazzi late in the race and had a half-spin after clouting the Turn 7 sausage kerb, which led to him declaring the car undriveable on the tyres, on his way to last place after a late pitstop – after which he had a go at fastest lap on fresh softs but couldn’t outpace the Mercedes drivers.
VERDICT: A weekend that promised so much after Friday but delivered so little.
Started: 16th Finished: 15th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 79
Gap to team-mate: -0.181s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
Having had a difficult time the previous weekend at Silverstone, Magnussen was far happier with the car even when lagging behind Grosjean on Friday. But he did the better job on Saturday, although Haas did have the pace to have made it to Q2.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 2
1 stop – soft/medium
Magnussen opted for a one-stop strategy and executed it well, passing Raikkonen at the start then keeping him at bay during the first stint.
But Raikkonen’s two-stop strategy always meant he’d come at the Haas strongly in the closing stages, closing a 20s gap with a big tyre advantage and passing Magnussen for 14th using the DRS.
VERDICT: Outpaced Grosjean when it mattered and turned in a decent race performance.
Started: 19th Finished: 19th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 78
Gap to team-mate: +0.433s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.084s
His final Q1 lap was compromised before it even began thanks to the rear getting out of shape at the exit of the chicane, much to his frustration, and meant he didn’t improve on his sector 1 time. But Latifi was quicker over the rest of the lap, albeit still a big step behind Russell despite the fact his team-mate didn’t improve.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 1
2 stops – medium/medium/soft
Latifi struggled for grip in the early laps and slipped a few seconds off the back of the field as he battled cooling trouble, with an attempt to extend the first stint and gun for a one-stopper aborted when it was clear he wouldn’t be able to run far enough.
The race did improve and he picked up a place when Grosjean made a late stop to take 18th, as well as using fresh softs to close the gap to Russell significantly.
VERDICT: A mixed bag of a weekend, as you’d expect from a rookie.
Started: 18th Finished: 17th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 54
Gap to team-mate: -0.433s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.058s
What Russell called “a complete mess” compromised the preparation for his third and final Q1 lap, so he had to rely on his second-run time for his grid position. While his run of Q2 appearances ended, he was happy given the team’s practice struggles and still outpaced Latifi comfortably.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
2 stops – soft/medium/medium
Russell described this as one of his most satisfying races in F1, although the strategy the team opted for didn’t quite pay off.
He made some passes, overtaking Grosjean twice, went wheel-to-wheel with Raikkonen and briefly looked a threat for ‘Class C’ victory but couldn’t keep the charging Alfa Romeos at bay on a weekend where the Williams, even by its standards, wasn’t especially strong.
VERDICT: Arguably his best race in F1 in terms of actually be able to race rivals, although time lost thanks to his long final stint was costly.
