Crash.net F1 journalist Connor McDonagh runs through his driver ratings for the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen – 9.5
A record-breaking victory for Verstappen at Monza. His tenth consecutive win – and he had to fight for it, battling hard with Sainz in the early stages. Once he got past, he never looked back.
Sergio Perez – 7
A better weekend for Perez on the whole. While he struggled once again in qualifying, like teammate Verstappen, he battled hard with the Ferraris to finish second.
Carlos Sainz – 9
One of Sainz’s best weekends as a Ferrari driver. He was mighty throughout practice before securing his first pole position of the year. Come race day, he put on a defensive masterclass.
Charles Leclerc – 8
A wrong setup choice in Friday practice put Leclerc on the backfoot. Once he moved onto Sainz’s car setup, he was back on the pace, albeit missing out on pole by less than a tenth. He looked like he edge on his teammate during the race, particularly with tyre management, however he couldn’t make the move stick.
George Russell – 8.5
A pretty complete weekend for Russell – penalty aside. He was mighty in qualifying and remained in the mix on race day, fending Perez off for a dozen laps or so. P5 was the most he could achieve given Red Bull and Ferrari’s superior pace.
Lewis Hamilton – 7
Hamilton struggled with a “lack of grip” in qualifying, leaving him down in eighth on the grid. The seven-time world champion ultimately recovered to sixth – his five-second time penalty proved to be inconsequential.
Alex Albon – 8.5
Another fine weekend from Albon. He continues to carry Williams to their best championship finish since 2017, coming away from Monza with six more points.
Lando Norris – 7.5
It wasn’t a vintage weekend from Norris in Monza as he lost out to teammate Piastri in qualifying. He managed to get ahead of his teammate through the pit stop phase. He was then unable to overtake Albon late on.
Fernando Alonso – 8
On a difficult weekend for Aston Martin, Alonso continues to get the most out of it, coming away with ninth.
Valtteri Bottas – 8
An unsung hero at Monza. Bottas did well to make Q2 given Alfa Romeo’s terrible Friday. He put together a strong Sunday to come away with a point.
Logan Sargeant – 6
Sargeant continues to lag well behind his teammate. A point could have been on the cards but he couldn’t fend off Bottas in the closing laps
Liam Lawson – 7.5
Another fine weekend for Lawson. Given it’s only his second race weekend in F1, Lawson deserves great credit for being so close to Tsunoda.
Oscar Piastri – 7
Points were very possible for Piastri had it not been for his unfortunate incident with Hamilton.
Lance Stroll – 5
Another poor weekend from Stroll, who was left perplexed by his qualifying display which left him 20th on the grid.
Zhou Guanyu – 6
Not at his teammate’s level at Monza, Zhou was fairly anonymous this weekend.
Pierre Gasly – 6.5
You can easily argue that Alpine had the slowest car at the Italian GP, mainly down to their underperforming engine. Gasly couldn’t have done much more.
Nico Hulkenberg – 6.5
After running well early on, Hulkenberg – in typical Haas fashion – plummeted down the field as they struggled with tyre wear.
Kevin Magnussen – 5
Magnussen continues to be the weaker of the two Haas drivers, struggling for pace throughout the weekend.
Esteban Ocon – 6
Ocon’s off in qualifying seem to cost him some performance, although he was within a tenth of his teammate. He then was forced out of the race prematurely.
Yuki Tsunoda – 6.5
Tsunoda didn’t make the race start after a technical issue.
Keyword: Italian Grand Prix driver ratings: Aston Martin's Lance Stroll problem continues as Ferrari move ahead