2016 Hungarian Grand Prix driver ratings

2016 Hungarian Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Many drivers left the Hungaroring knowing they could have achieved more. Here’s the F1 Fanatic verdict on how the field fared in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Mercedes

Hamilton made life tough for Rosberg
Lewis Hamilton – A crash early in second practice compromised his race preparation. He nearly missed the cut for the top ten shoot-out after a mistake in Q2, but he would probably have been on pole position had it not been for an unfortunately-timed yellow flag. The race went better: he made one of his better starts this year to take the lead and successfully kept Rosberg at bay, though at times it was clear he was maintaining a very steady pace which almost prompted his team to switch their strategies.

Nico Rosberg – Rosberg was undoubtedly lucky that Alonso’s spin in Q3 compromised his team mate yet gave him a chance to take pole position. As he passed the yellow flags he backed off sufficiently for the stewards – just as Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen did two races ago – and it’s unrealistic to expect a driver to do more. He was out-dragged at the start by Hamilton and Ricciardo and though he smartly re-passed the Red Bull and gave chase to his team mate it proved to be in vain.

Ferrari

Raikkonen failed to reach Q3
Sebastian Vettel – At last had a weekend free of major problems and did well to split the Red Bulls at a track where the Ferrari was not the second-quickest car. At the first round of pit stops he successfully undercut Verstappen, who then got stuck behind the other Ferrari. He then ran a long middle stint to give him a run at Ricciardo at the end of the race, but couldn’t find a way by.

Kimi Raikkonen – Did Raikkonen miss a place in Q3 solely because he was the first to set a time on a drying track? Vettel set his lap time 24 seconds after his team mate and was 1.3 seconds faster. But other drivers who had the benefit of setting their times after their team mate failed to beat them, such as Button, so track evolution doesn’t explain everything and Raikkonen could have made more of the chance he had. Starting outside the top ten meant he could spend the entire race on new tyres, and useful passes on Perez and Gutierrez early on allowed him to make the most of that strategy. But at the end of the race despite newer, softer tyres and DRS he was out-foxed by Verstappen – Raikkonen damaged his front wing trying to pass the Red Bull.

Williams

Bottas overcame his car’s wet weather weakness
Felipe Massa – Didn’t have access to the new Williams floor but also spoiled his qualifying by crashing on the wet track. His car was repaired overnight but a problem was discovered with his steering rack after his reconnaissance lap and Massa wasn’t able to get it fully to his liking before the start. A game effort to pull off a one-stop strategy did not work and he had to make a late extra pit stop.

Valtteri Bottas – Given the difficulties Williams usually have in the wet, reaching Q3 was an achievement. He made it past Hulkenberg at the start but lost out in the race to the end against Sainz.

Red Bull

Ricciardo resisted Vettel for his second podium
Daniel Ricciardo – Got within two-tenths of Hamilton in qualifying and beat his team mate and felt he would have been close to Rosberg’s pole time without the yellow flag. A rapid start allowed him to briefly split the Mercedes but he got boxed in behind Hamilton, allowing Rosberg through. An aggressively early second stop proved an unsuccessful attempt to get back ahead, and left him running a long, 37-lap stint to the end under constant pressure from Vettel.

Max Verstappen – Not quite on Ricciardo’s one-lap pace and despite driving “like a grandma” in the opening stint his rear tyres began to go off sooner than his team mate’s. This was doubly problematic as Ricciardo ahead had pit stop priority, leaving Verstappen unable to keep Vettel behind. He also got caught behind Raikkonen at one point, but when the roles were reversed he fended the Ferrari driver off superbly in the closing stages on older rubber.

Force India

Force India had problems in the pits
Nico Hulkenberg – Beat Perez comfortably in qualifying but as the track dried in Q3 there was to be no repeat of his damp-track heroics from Austria. He lost a place at the start and two at his first pit stop, which doomed him to an afternoon in the slipstream of other cars. It got worse on his second visit to the pits when he let the clutch slip, delaying his tyre change and losing another place to Palmer. However he salvaged a point.

Sergio Perez – A mistake in Q2 cost him dearly: he ended up a second and a half slower than Hulkenberg and missed the cut for the top ten. He also had problems in the pits: after abandoning an attempt to run a single-stop race the team weren’t prepared for his second visit, costing him over eight seconds. But even without that he wouldn’t have beaten Hulkenberg to the final point.

Go ad-free for just £1 per month

>> Find out more and sign up

Renault

Palmer spun away points chance
Kevin Magnussen – Both Renault drivers were compromised in the stop-start Q1 session and missed out on chances to progress further. Having qualified behind Palmer he lost time early in the race when Wehrlein passed him at the start, which ultimately wrecked his chances of jumping the Haas drivers at the first round of pit stops as his team mate did. Magnussen therefore spent the rest of the race reading Grosjean’s rear wing.

Jolyon Palmer – Had put in one of his best performances of the year so far until the car got away from him at turn four on lap 47, dropping him three places to 13th. Prior to that he’d out-qualified Magnussen in difficult conditions and got ahead of the Haas drivers with a longer first stint. “I turned in the same as normal at turn four,” he said. “I wasn’t hanging everything out and I was looking after the tyres – but for some reason I lost the car in a massive snap.”

Toro Rosso

Sainz starred in qualifying
Daniil Kvyat – Although Toro Rosso managed to get Kvyat a late run in Q2 when the track was at its driest, he complained about losing time behind Button and said his crew did not have his tyres ready soon enough. He missed the cut – lapping over four seconds slower than Sainz – which meant he started six places behind his team mate. He was in the wrong settings at the start of the race and fell to 20th place, which made for a long day in the office.

Carlos Sainz Jnr – Took advantage of Raikkonen’s struggles in Q2 to qualify a superb sixth place – it’s doubtful the car was capable of more. Alonso jumped him at the start, however, and he was unable to re-pass the McLaren.

Sauber

Ericsson binned his Sauber again
Marcus Ericsson – Had his second crash in as many racing Saturdays which forced him to start from the pit lane. He got stuck behind Nasr early on but as the Manor driver was one-stopping Ericsson easily moved ahead. His pace wasn’t on a pair with his team mate’s, however, and an over-ambitious tyre-gamble meant a fourth pit stop which left him behind Wehrlein.

Felipe Nasr – Nasr got his car into Q2 and showed Sauber were capable of managing a normal tyre strategy in the race. But the under-developed C35 was always going to struggle at a circuit where downforce is at a premium. Finishing two seconds behind Magnussen was a respectable effort.

McLaren

Alonso was a consistent sevent
Fernando AlonsoWas ‘Mr Seventh place’ at the Hungaroring and it’s unlikely the McLaren could realistically have finished higher. His slip-up in Q3 was the only blot on an otherwise very strong weekend.

Jenson Button – Might have out-qualified Alonso had it not been for the yellow flags which appeared after his team mate’s mistake. His race was ruined by multiple technical problems and, to make things even worse, a penalty for receiving assistance on the radio.

Manor

Wehrlein came very close to reaching Q2
Pascal Wehrlein – The final red flag in Q1 came out eight-tenths of a second before he crossed the finishing lap. His lap time would have been good enough for eighth place, but as it couldn’t be counted he was eliminated. In the race he briefly ran as high as 16th before the inevitable tyre degradation caught up with him, though he still finished in front of one Sauber.

Rio Haryanto – Crashed in Q1 and toiled fruitlessly on a one-stop strategy in the race.

Haas

Gutierrez angered the leaders
Romain Grosjean – Nearly pulled off a shock in Q2: he was just one-tenth of a second away from knocking Hamilton out of the top ten. The race was a disaster, however: struggling with low-speed understeer, he slipped back to 14th place.

Esteban Gutierrez – Coped better with his car than his team mate but fell foul of the stewards twice due to his failure to respond to blue flags. Like Grosjean he also struggled with his brakes in the closing stages and he was passed by Perez in the closing stages.

Vote for your driver of the weekend

Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?

Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?

Cast your vote here and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments:

2016 Hungarian Grand Prix

Browse all 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

74 comments on “2016 Hungarian Grand Prix driver ratings”

  1. Liam McShane (@)
    25th July 2016, 17:35

    I generally agree except i’m not sure why Sainz wasn’t given a 5. It’s even stated “it’s doubtful the car was capable of more.” I’m not sure what else he could have done.

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      25th July 2016, 21:09

      Generally agree with these ratings as well.
      I would have given Sainz a 5 like you did, @motor_mad. It is a bit hard to judge during the race as we do not see a lot of him. But he always seem to be there, just behind the big teams.

      Kimi in my weekend review should at least be a 3. I agree that his Q2 was a major mistake. However he made up a lot of this (and places) during the race. To get more than a 3 I would have expected to see an overtake on the new SS tyres.

      1. @coldfly Actually I’d give Kimi 4 because I don’t agree with Keith’s argument on his Q2 form. When he crossed the line, he was comfortably ahead from others and then the times just tumbling down rapidly after that. While it’s true Vettel probably could set better time if he was in Kimi position/timing, I doubt his time will be enough to get into Q3. It’s normal situation on drying track when your can improve by over 1s on your next lap. Also in the race, he’s actually have better pace than Vettel, constantly lapping at the same pace as the leaders and even when he let Vettel through after pitting, he still stick comfortably behind him with those old tires. If he passed Verstappen I’d give him 5, but can’t overtake in Hungary is the norm. When the roles are reversed in mid-stint, Verstappen (who probably the most aggressive overtaker this season) actually can’t even get that close to Kimi – with Kimi has old Softs while Verstappen have new softs.

        1. Even Lewis was so close to be out of Q2.

  2. Kinda hard to argue with a 4 for both Hamilton and Rosberg given the flaws in their respective weekends. I guess that’s the flaw with a simple out of 5 rating.

  3. Raikkonen with a 2? Comparable to Massa? Should be a 3, I’d say 4 even if not for his poor qualifying.

    He had a great drive on an alternate strategy bar not being able to get past Verstappen at the end – on a track almost all the drivers pointed out was not good for overtaking.

    Don’t know how his “mistake” of another driver shutting the door on him mid-overtake is anything even comparable to Palmers entirely unforced error who scored a cool 3.

    It could have just as easily ended with a puncture for Max and the Ferrari breezing by.

    1. Raikkonen getting a 2 for this race is almost as ridiculous as Verstappen not even getting investigated for blocking Raikkonen.

      1. I don’t see what they could have investigated Verstappen for. It’s not as if he was weaving all over the place, he made his one defensive move when he was attacked and he invariably timed it brilliantly. Raikkonen felt he did it too late but of course he would say that: Given the substantial tyre grip plus DRS advantage Raikkonen enjoyed if Verstappen had defended sooner the Ferrari would easily have passed him.

        One useful way to look at it would be to consider a rule they have in IndyCar racing, where drivers are told they may defend ‘proactively’ – i.e. in anticipation of an attacking move from a rival – but not ‘re-actively’, which Verstappen appeared to be doing on Sunday. F1 doesn’t have that rule, but if it did I would argue Verstappen had broken it.

        As it is, I thought it was a great piece of driving, firm but absolutely to the letter of the rules. And it’s far from the first time Verstappen’s put one over Raikkonen, which probably also explains why we heard so much whingeing.

        1. He actually made two, the whole world saw it.

          Kimi sold him the dummy perfectly. Hell, there’s video idk why people deny it. Kimi goes right, Max defends, Kimi cuts left, Max closes, it’s so obvious. It’s just that the ‘stewards’ saw the first (right) move as taking the racing line, but if you watch the video you can clearly see it was a defensive move as he was reacting to Kimis movement to the right.

          Let’s not even talk about T1.

          1. Yeah, I can’t agree with Keith here. This sort of driving is dangerous Limited sold him a dummy and dives to the inside at which point Max (not for the first time) jinks to the inside which is highly dangerous and makes you impossible to pass. If you allow that kind of defending nobody will ever be able to overtake anyone. There will be status quo or an accident. Simple as that.

          2. It’s just that the ‘stewards’ saw the first (right) move as taking the racing line

            I think this gets to the nub of the ‘was it two moves or one’ part of the argument. I can’t think of any precedent in F1 which supports your interpretation, however. To me this seems to be consistent with how the stewards have interpreted defensive driving moves in the past and explains why this didn’t even merit an investigation.

          3. Returning to my earlier point about the difference in rules between F1 and IndyCar, FIA race director Charlie Whiting spoke regarding the Verstappen incident a few days later and also pointed out there is no rule forbidding what Verstappen did:

            A lot of people, including the teams concerned, felt that Max had moved more than once to defend his position, which we don’t believe he did. There’s no actual rule about moving in the braking zone, although it’s a fairly undesirable thing according to most drivers. Obviously we will discuss this later. I think it was on the edge of being fair. But I asked the stewards to look at both incidents during the race and I asked them to review it again after the race and they felt it was firm but fair. ‘Robust defence’ I think was the expression they used.

            https://www.racefans.net/2016/07/29/whiting-explains-decisions-halo-track-limits-safety-car-starts-radio-ban/

          4. Since we’re keeping this alive Keith, do we really take Charlies opinion over 4 World Champions ?

        2. He moved twice, it’s obvious.
          Some could say his second move wasn’t enough to hand him a penalty, but there was a second move, that’s clear.

        3. Neil Debacquer
          26th July 2016, 7:19

          this says more than enough
          https://www.formula1.com/en/vote.html

      2. Agreed. Keith seems to be following all the Max fanboys on this incident. Maybe he’ll put out an article to discuss it further, but he hasn’t brought it up much.

        1. @kanundra As far as I’m concerned this is about Raikkonen, not Verstappen. I already wrote about Raikkonen getting a lesson in racing from the younger generation last year, when we had plenty of other examples:

          Raikkonen needs a firmer grip on the rules of racing

          1. Vettel must also…..he accused Verstappen of defending twice in Silverstone.

          2. Is Seb wrong too?

          3. Just a quick reminder that we had 4 World Champions agree that it was a reckless move.

        2. Agree with Keith also, DR was the driver of the race, even though it looked dull on TV, he managed his tyres to just get home in front of the faster Vet..but on the other side of the RB garage..the teenager chew out his tyres trying to race grandma…..Keith l though 4 was generous for Max.

      3. During the race and after the race Charly Whiting asked the stewards to look at the situation, Both times they judged it was hard but fair defending. End of story.
        So he’s no golden boy, he’s just one of the pack.

      4. Guybrush Threepwood
        26th July 2016, 10:21

        Most people who haven’t done much racing before probably don’t see what is wrong with Verstappen’s defending, but it is extremely dangerous, especially in open wheelers.

        When an attacking driver with a large speed deficit (whether through acceleration or late braking) commits to a line to pass someone in front of them their options to change approach become more limited the closer they get to the car in front as they have less reaction time, track space and quite often are on the limit of adhesion through braking and trying to make the corner.

        If the driver in front makes a very late and sudden move once the driver behind has committed to an overtake and is only just behind or beside the car in front it is likely that they will collide depending on the escape routes available to the car behind. We saw this with Max and Raikkonen at Hungary – the telling thing being that absolutely no one is questioning Raikkonen’s attempt to pass when they collided which is an indicator that Raikkonen did nothing wrong and so therefore who did?

        Now making these late and sudden moves in a tin-top is one thing, but in an open wheeler doing 200+ km/h, where if wheels touch in line they literally throw the following car up in the air, it is absolutely dangerous and irresponsible.

        It is an unwritten law in racing that this sort of defending doesn’t occur, simply because it’s difficult to define. Drivers like Lewis Hamilton can hang people out to dry on the outside of corners which might be considered aggressive, intense racing or even dirty, but doing what Verstappen did is just plain dangerous. Anyone can weave in front of another driver when they are about to overtake, but it will invariably cause an accident sooner or later which could be absolutely dire in an open-wheeled car. Most drivers learn this during their rise through the ranks in junior formula which is probably why Max hasn’t recognised how dangerous he is being. If he continues to do this let’s just hope when the big accident happens it is simply a rear end the puts both drivers out of the race and nothing worse.

        1. I agree with you Guy , Max is very mature and capable with his racing, though his defending does show he isnt long out of Karts.

    2. Losing 23 seconds behind Romain Grosjean wasn’t exactly helpful to Kimi’s chances, though I’m not sure how much a part that played in the score. I have to admit that I tend to find the reasons behind ratings more interesting than the exact number given to each driver.

      1. I don’t know how you calculate losing 23 seconds? Kimi was 19 seconds behind Vettel when Grosjean pitted on lap 14. Kimi’s plan was to keep the softs alive for a long first stint, destroying them when trying too hard to overtake SS cars would not have been smart.

    3. It’s a tough one. If you hold him solely responsible for his bad qualifying, then a 2 or a 3 is justified, but otherwise he deserves a higher mark. He was Driver of the Day after all. His race pace was incredible, but as it was almost impossible to overtake, he only managed to finish sixth and that’s not good enough in a Ferrari.

      1. @f1infigures Well, if most people agreed Ferrari is the 3rd quickest car in Hungary, and Vettel is better than Kimi, then finishing 6th is what you can realistically expect. If we discount Mercedes because they just untouchable, and all his main competitors (Ric, Max, and Vettel) deemed as having good race, finishing 6th from starting 14th on a track where its notorious for difficult overtaking, not to mention he actually give a good fight for 5th for final 10 laps, should be good enough for any team, Ferrari or not.

        1. @sonicslv Naturally Red Bull should have been faster than Ferrari, but they only had the advantage in qualifying. The Ferraris were faster in the race, and I felt this was due to better tire management of the drivers. So therefore 4th and 6th was a better-than-expected result for Ferrari based on the car’s potential and their poor qualifying. However, if the Red Bulls were struggling in the race because, for example, they couldn’t make the tires work, then the Ferraris underperformed as a result of their bad qualifying.

          1. @f1infigures But we reviewing his performance in a specific race here, so we can leave all the ifs and buts. Given all the facts happening during the weekend, Raikkonen drive was mega. While its true that Ferrari/Kimi managed his tires better in the race, but Red Bulls and Vettel don’t have bad tire wear either, in fact their strategy is the norm used by other drivers too, so it’s hard to call that he is underperforming. The only fault IMO if you want put the majority of Q2 exit blame on him like Keith’s reasoning, which I disagreed and explain my reasoning in a comment earlier above .

  4. These ratings are really strange and there are a lot of flaws to them, which itself is strange because you usally are quite good at these. Raikkonen getting a 2 is ridiculous considering his Q2 exit wasn’t his fault and how he recovered to be able to challenge Verstappen in a slower car and a lower grid position was amazing. Perez would have finished ahead of Hulk if it wasn’t for the bad pit-stop, he was running two seconds ahead before they both pitted for the second time. Gutierrez beat Grosjean with a penalty so I don’t see how he did worse than his teammate

    My ratings would be like

    Hamilton – 4/5 (nice win, controlled)
    Rosberg – 4/5 (pole was fair, could have won without a bad start)
    Vettel – 4/5 (did well to challenge Ricciardo)
    Raikkonen – 4/5 (said in the above paragraph)
    Ricciardo – 4/5 (strong performance for the podium)
    Verstappen – 3/5 (wasn’t impressive at all for me)
    Bottas – 3/5 (average performance, but did OK to score points)
    Massa – 1/5 (utterly useless)
    Hulkenberg – 3/5 (didn’t see much of him but didn’t have the pace to challenge higher)
    Perez – 3/5 (average race before a botched pitstop)
    Magnussen 2/5 (not good at all, beaten by Palmer in both quali and race)
    Palmer – 3/5 (would have got a four or a five before that incompetent spin)
    Sainz – 4/5 (driver of the weekend for me, if he beat Alonso it would have been a 5)
    Kvyat – 1/5 (Gasly won the feature race, so he’s on his way out. How can you finish 16th in a Toro Rosso which has Hungary as one of it’s best tracks?)
    Alonso – 4/5 (would have been 5 if not for the spin)
    Button – 3/5 (hard to rate because of the problems)
    Nasr – 3/5 (solid race, ran well again ahead of his teammate)
    Ericsson – 1/5 (crashed, almost finished last, pretty lame)
    Wehrlein – 2/5 (fell backwards after a good start, want to compare him to Vandoorne)
    Haryanto – 1/5 (crashed and finished last, AGAIN. Please leave)
    Grosjean – 2/5 (Not impressive, being beaten by Gutierrez is not good)
    Gutierrez – 3/5 (Beat Grosjean but blocked Hamilton considerably)

    1. I pretty much agree with these @lolzerbob, especially Grosjean=2 and Sainz being dotw. Give him a 5 though!

    2. I think these ratings are about as accurate as they can be.

    3. The Mercs are so dominate that it is really hard to judge their drivers…both drivers can back off, run wide or miss a few apexes, locked brakes and still finish 1/2..most probably half the grid could win in the mercs…So is Nico a better driver than the current midfield drivers? we know Lewis is better racer than Nico…BUT Lewis has never had to prove himself in back or midfield cars in close tight racing….so is he better than Vet Ric Max or CS?..very hard to judge.

      1. “BUT Lewis has never had to prove himself in back or midfield cars in close tight racing….”

        Did you watch the 2009 season @nosehair? The Mclaren started as the 9th fastest car, it was a complete disaster. Yet Hamilton fought tooth and nail.

  5. I cannot be bothered to do it this time, and there were not any standout performances. Maybe Ricciardo and Sainz, but that’s it. Boring.

  6. If Kimi is a 2 Nico shd be a 3 and Jenson shd be a 1. Get real Keith

    1. How on earth is Button performance worthy of a 1? Care to explain?

  7. Sorry, these ratings are ridiculous.

    1. i think I have to agree. It’s a purely subjective exercise that really doesn’t dig very deep. I think if ROS had won after taking pole under double yellows he probably would have gotten a 5. lolz. Kimi’s run and pace was really good, I would have to give the nod to RIC and HAM this race, both guys finished one up where they were supposed to be, the mid pack is interesting. As for Sainz, hes probably the only one TR is concerned with, so a bit of salt with his performances too, now that he doesn’t have to worry about his car breaking down left and right to keep VES looking pretty.

  8. “Vettel set his lap time 24 seconds after his team mate and was 1.3 seconds faster. But other drivers who had the benefit of setting their times after their team mate failed to beat them, such as Button, so track evolution doesn’t explain everything”

    It explains almost everything, 24 seconds is a lot(which isn’t accurate anyway it was more like over 30 seconds) , Alonso, Hulkenberg set their laps about 10 seconds later and were easily quicker than Vettel do you really think FI and Mclaren can be quicker than Ferrari like that on merit or Verstappen who set his lap about 30 seconds later who was 1.5 seconds quicker than Vettel.

    1. I also find the ratings very strange especially considering that both Verstappen and Raikonen failed to overtake each other for over 10 laps with newer and faster tires at different stages of the race (with the Kimi defending cleanly, while Verstappen defense is questionable), yet Verstappen gets 4 and Kimi 2.

      Kimi was fastest in q2 when he crossed the line, so clearly the track has evolved considerably for other drivers to find more than 1.5 seconds afterwards.

      1. Max started 4th finished 5th. Yet he gets 4 and Kimi 2. For the sake of not being biased (or not being a kimi hater, idk which one is the case here) make it 4-3 at least next time.

  9. Between this rating and the tweet about the article about RAI from 2015 it seems that there is an axe to grind

  10. Funny thing is that Kimi was less behind his teammate in Q2 than Hamilton who was 2s slower than Rosberg. Had Hamilton done 0.1s worse in Q2 I wonder what his rating would be..

    1. With Hamilton I think it was the mistake at turn one which made the difference, he was a very, very lucky boy to get through, which is why i think 4 is slightly too high for him, his weekend was fairly scrappy in places.

      1. hes over 30, hes not really a boy. It has to be said, and it really shouldn’t have to be said either.

        1. I know that he isn’t a boy, it was just a figure of speech, Lewis is actually one of my favourite drivers on the grid

  11. Driver of the Weekend getting 2/5?

    C’mon Keith. While you have every right to your own opinion, why not call it “Keith Collantine verdict” and try to leave your emotions aside and be bit more objective when posting “F1 Fanatic verdict”.

    1. Blackbox l think Keith is always quite fair and without bias on his ratings, give him a break!

      1. Keith runs an excellent F1 site and I do appreciate his dedication to F1 and to his readers. Keith just does not seem to appreciate Kimi’s input to sport and IMHO has blid spot when it comes to Kimi. It shows in his ratings.

        While not perfect weekend, Kimi did perform in the race earning both F1 Fanatic DOW and DOD in F1.com and Keith is rating him 2/5. Not that many of F1 Fanatic readers seem to agree with this. But as said, it’s just Keith’s opinion and he’s fully entitled to have it.

        Keith’s arguments were:
        1) Did not make into Q3
        True, but you are argue how much of this was teams fault and how much of Kimi’s. Both could have done better but it was very changing conditions and even Hamilton was close to be eliminated and it’s not shown in his rating (4/5).
        2) Was not able to pass Verstappen
        Passing someone in Hungary is nearly impossible. Max (4/5) was unable to pass Kimi earlier in the race and Kimi did not have to use “junior-formula” defensive technique (quote Martin Brundle).

        1. Completely agree – definite blind spot for Raikkonen and his quality. I was at the turn 6/7 chicane for the whole race and he was brilliant around the whole turn 4-7 complex for the entire race, even pulling away from Vettel on considerably older tyres before his second stop. Verstappen made two moves and even the Dutch fans sitting beside me were somewhat sheepish looking at the replay where there were two subtle but clear moves – verstappen moves to block Raikkonen on the outside, then weaves back inside to block him on the inside to take an abnormally tight line into turn 2, one he hadn’t taken for the entire race (so not the ‘racing line’, as Horner or Verstappen might argue), giving no chance to pass, which is Schumacher-esque and unfair, reminiscent of the double move at Spa 2000 where he blocks Hakkinen the lap before that superb move down the inside of Zonta. We’re all fans of hard racing, but hard racing where one driver isn’t consistently pushing the boundaries of what’s acceptable.

  12. I really don’t see how you can justify a 2/5 for Kimi, even if his poor qualifying was entirely his fault – which Ferrari have said it was not. He made his way up into the top 6, and even if Verstappen didn’t move dangerously in the braking zone – which he did, by the way – then you still seem to be placing unrealistic expectations on Kimi while using a double standard on Max. He came out behind Kimi on brand new tyres and couldn’t make his way past, thanks to some very good and fair defending by Raikkonen. It doesn’t strike me as fair at all to penalize Kimi for failing to overtake with a tyre advantage while ignoring that Verstappen as unable to do the same.

    If Kimi is a 2/5, I can’t see how Max isn’t also. At least Kimi was on his teammate’s pace in the race.

  13. Dayum, these ratings.

  14. A 2 for Raikkonen? Really? Ferrari assumed responsability for his Q2 exit for getting the timing wrong, but even if he were to blame for his starting position surely his great performance in the race should get him a higher mark.
    He was quick and consistent in his three stints, set the fastest lap, and had to actually overtake other cars to get to sixth. He defended from Verstappen succesfully to the point where Max got to fifth only when Kimi changed tyres. And once he advanced to get behind Max on track he attacked him relentlessly, not even after getting his front wing broken he stopped trying to get past.
    I am a huge Vettel fan, but it seems unfair that you rate Kimi so poorly in comparison to his team mate when even Seb couldn’t get past Ricciardo although he also tried everything to the last lap. If Seb had overtaken Ricciardo then you could have rated him higher than Kimi for achieving something the Finn could not, but as it stands, they both pushed their Ferraris to the limit but it wasn’t enough to beat the Red Bulls.

  15. KR a 2 star? We don’t know how much he could’ve gained by a better timing in Q2. Remember, in Q2 it was not necessary to be 1.3 sec faster. It was necessary to be in Q3=faster than Lewis. Also he had amazing pace in the race while keeping the tires together including holding off Verstappen on old rubber early on WITHOUT DIRTY DRIVING. You say he’s been out-foxed by Verstappen? I say he’s been robbed by the useless stewards. Him and all the fans, who are, like me, fans of fair driving and not dirty Schumacher-esque tactics. Because MV will keep doing this as long as he’s allowed to do it with impunity. In short I disagree with you about KR rating 100%-way too low, should’ve been 4 stars, and MV’s rating-should’ve been 3 stars

    Also wrong:

    Lewis same rating as Nico? No way, Lewis was much faster both in qualy and race and could pull away from Nico at ease. The fact NR lucked into pole, doesn’t mean he deserves to be equal to LH

    It’s funny that you give the same rating to Massa as Kimi. Massa who’s had the worst weekend by a driver that I can remember. 18th in qualy and race in the Williams. Really shows your anti-Kimi bias. Massa doesn’t deserve any stars this weekend. On the other hand, Bottas maximized Williams’ rubbish potential and you give him only 3 stars? Surely he deserves at least 4

    NH beat SP in both qualy and race and they have the same rating? not even half a star more to poor Hulk?

    Kvyat the same rating as Raikkonen? What a funny joke

    Nasr surely deserves more than 3 stars for maximizing the Sauber? Same as Bottas

    1. [QUOTE]The fact NR lucked into pole[/QUOTE]

      How about the fact that LH lucked entering Q3?

      1. Sakis you have a good point!!, Ric was up .5 of sec vefore the flag came out also..

      2. @sakis Not the same thing. LH was faster than NR the whole weekend. So in that context Lewis being P10 in Q2 can be considered a blip that was out of alignment with their performances during the weekend. On the other hand , Rosberg being on pole suddenly because of Alonso’s spin when all the time he was slower than Lewis this weekend, including in Q3, and in the race Hamilton was, there’s no other word for it, toying with him. How can someone claim Rosberg deserves the same rating as LH when he was clearly the slower driver is beyond me

        1. @montreal95
          You were clear on what you said. NR LUCKED INTO POLE. I quoted that.
          Don’t give me your whole analysis. I don’t care. It’s not on the subject.
          Perez on his lap was 0.652 faster (on the last sector) than Hamilton and he made a mistake a corner before the final straight. So, it would have been P11 for Hamilton. I am saying it once again, HE LUCKED INTO Q3, just as you said for NR.
          Am I clear? Probably not. Double standards on this site and on Hamilton’s fanbase are beyond annoying.

          1. Lol, @losd below says the same thing as you @montreal95. “Sheer luck”.
            Double standards, as I said earlier.
            I am pretty sure the story of the race would have been soooo different if LH hadn’t been so lucky with Perez’s momentary lapse of concentration on Q2, given the fact that SP was the last one to cross the finish line. Sheer luck for NR though.

          2. BS. Just as Raikkonen was extremely unlucky to tumble as fast as he did, Hamilton would also have been extremely unlucky to be pushed out because of a changing track.

  16. Rosberg doesn’t even remotely deserve a 4. Got his pole through sheer luck, and it was obvious that Hamilton was playing with him after getting in front. 3 at best.

  17. The rating is a farce. Verstappen 4 and Raikkonen 2. This is definitely some biased journalism. When Kimi crossed the line he went fastest and whoever crossed the line after that jumped him. Even the Haas. So yeah there was huge track evolution. If you drop from 1st to 14th in a matter of 70 secs then there has got to be track evolution playing a factor.
    And on the 2nd point Verstappen defending superbly. Charlie Whiting talked to Kimi after the race and is planning to do so in Germany once again to get his point of view on the incident because he suspects he did infact move twice.
    So please be a little neutral the next time. You might not like Kimi but dont let that get you the next time.

  18. Keith is surely a Verstappen Fanboy. he drives dirty. And he gets away with it because he is the wonder kid.
    He is good. But such stupid driving deserves a penalty. He is overly cocky in his interviews.

  19. These ratings are really off. Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa scored the same? Massa was in P18! Raikkonen was the only driver to actually move up the grid significantly. Massa…. didn’t move up the grid. At all.

    Ericsson was faster than Nasr over the race but Sauber had him on a bad strategy. I’d have put them both on 2. Nasr was so very far behind everyone else in Q2, the only reason he made it there was lucky timing.

    Ricciardo a 5 is surprisingly high too, should perhaps be a 4.

  20. Kimi given 2 seems to be bit odd; 3 or 4 would be fair i guess.
    I dont want to comment on MAX’s defending moves on KIMI.
    But i think he still needs to mature as a driver; Complaining that kimi is exceeding track limit during race looks is one such example.

    Do agree to point that with softer tires and DRS its easier for KIMI to over-take.
    But we do need to consider that RB was faster Ferrari the whole weekend and track doesnt allow much overtaking.

  21. MG421982 (@)
    26th July 2016, 10:15

    Verstappen 5 and Raikkonen 4?? Neah. Verstappen did nothing spectacular in my opinion. RBR was the better car all weekend long compared to Ferrari, RAI started 14th, did not gain anything at the start, but still managed to recover very good indeed and give a hard time to Verstappen. Not to mention that he also managed to keep brilliantly Verstappen behind, who had a lot fresher/better tyres. So, at best, I’d give Verstappen a 4 for this GP.

    1. MG421982 (@)
      26th July 2016, 10:23

      My bad! RIC got 5. An EDIT button would be very helpful.

  22. First time I almost fully agree with your ratings. I’d give Alonso a 5 because he did a better job than other drivers who also got rated a 4.

  23. In my opinion if you have to distribute the weightages for rating a driver the qualifying only counts for 20% and the race for 80% so no way can a good race performance get offset by a good qualifying. In Austria HULK started 2nd and see where he ended up.
    Button may done a great job qualifying but ended up nowhere so how does he still get a 3 is my question.

  24. People agreeing with Vesterppen’s move, forget that the second part of his move (looking in his mirrors to see which line the following driver takes, then moving to cover it), is exactly what Rosberg did to Lewis in Spain. Lewis has to instinctively swerve to the grass; and we all know how it ended.

    Within the rules or not, this kind of action will result in an accident – sooner or later. Mark my words.

  25. WillOfTheSupremo
    26th July 2016, 15:58

    Generally agree with the rankings, but how on earth is Kimi 2/5?? Did it suddenly became easy-peasy to pass in this track? Or did Ferrari suddenly became the undisputed king of the field in this race, and his recovery was expected? And..honestly, HOW was he outfoxed by Verstappen? By all accounts Max was reacting to Kimi’s moves AND switching sides in the braking zone, something you rarely even see in KARTS, nevermind F1. With much higher speeds and HP, it’s much easier to have a crash, and wasn’t it for Kimi agreeing to bail out in each and every occasion Max was feeling the pressure, it would’ve been a double DNF. Not even Hamilton drives so dirty on his dirtier days.

    Look, i don’t hate Max. If anything, i’m a big admirer of him. Young, fast, talented, hungry. But even in F1, there is a limit. A line were you must stop thinking about yourself and see the bigger picture, respect your rival. That’s what Max didn’t do in Sunday.

    To return to my starting point: I just don’t get how Kimi’s 2/5. And Alonso not a 5/5 as well, but that’s another subject entierly..

  26. Still I Rise
    26th July 2016, 17:36

    Kimi went right then left, so did Max which was illegal. And Kimi gets a 2, ok

Comments are closed.