F1 Driver Ratings: Azerbaijan 2018

Lewis Hamilton took his first victory of the year, albeit with a bit of luck, as Kimi Raikkonen recovered from an early collision to finish in 2nd. Sergio Perez took another podium after huge drama as the Red Bulls locked horns, Vettel made a mistake and Bottas got a late race puncture. All of that is to be analysed but first the driver ratings.

As always, the order you see below is the finishing order.

2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Baku

Lewis Hamilton: 7.5/10

Kimi Raikkonen: 7/10

Sergio Perez: 8.5/10

Sebastian Vettel: 8/10

Carlos Sainz: 8.5/10

Charles Leclerc: 9.5/10

Fernando Alonso: 7.5/10

Lance Stroll: 7/10

Stoffel Vandoorne: 6/10

Brendon Hartley: 3.5/10

Marcus Ericsson: 5.5/10

Pierre Gasly: 5.5/10

Kevin Magnussen: 6/10

RETIRED

Valtteri Bottas: 8/10

Romain Grosjean: 3/10

Max Verstappen: 2/10

Daniel Ricciardo: 3/10

Nico Hulkenberg: 4/10

Esteban Ocon: 5.5/10

Sergey Sirotkin: 5/10

Charles Leclerc’s exceptional performance not just in the race but also in qualifying earned him a 9.5 and the highest ratings of the grid. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen’s actions in the race awarded him another very low rating. I’ll talk more about him in an article later in the week. The overall average for this race is lower than usual because there were a lot of mistakes out there but that’s what I love about the Baku street circuit.