Ratings | Verstappen not perfect in Saudi Arabia, Hamilton's low point

The Saudi Arabia Grand Prix was a true spectacle. With only 13 drivers at the finish and a memorable duel between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, there is plenty to look back on. Here are the GPblog ratings for the drivers.

Verstappen: 9

Max Verstappen lost a qualifying battle to Sergio Perez for the second time. A gap of more than two tenths to his teammate is not something we are used to from the Dutchman. On Sunday, with some help from the safety car, he put things right and was the one who climbed onto the top step of the podium after a spectacular duel with Leclerc.

Leclerc: 8.5

Charles Leclerc did everything he could this weekend. He was narrowly beaten on Saturday by Perez and on Sunday he couldn't keep Verstappen off him. He did everything he could, but a small moment in the final corner gave Verstappen the chance he needed. Over the whole weekend, however, the Monegasque was again rock solid.

Sainz: 8

Carlos Sainz did his job again for Ferrari with a third-place finish. He did get surprised too easily by Verstappen at the start but did manage to keep Perez behind him in the closing stages of the race.

Perez: 9

Sergio Perez didn't really do anything wrong. He drove the lap of his life on Saturday and started the Grand Prix strongly. However, Nicholas Latifi's crash could not have come at a worse time. The fourth spot was then for the Mexican, who unlike his teammate did not manage to pass the Ferrari driver in front of him.

Russell: 8

George Russell had a strong weekend. The Briton made it to Q3, where his teammate with seven world titles under his belt didn't get past Q1. Russell drove an invisible race but scored important points for the team.

Ocon: 8.5

Esteban Ocon drove a strong weekend but, not for the first time, engaged in an unnecessary duel with his teammate. It's a shame because the Frenchman had been very strong on Saturday. On Sunday, however, he fell a bit short of pace against Fernando Alonso, but aggressive defending did not help either party.

Norris: 8

Lando Norris provided a small stunt by scoring points with this McLaren. The car is barely able to move forward, but the Briton made the most of the car and drove to seventh place.

Gasly: 7.5

Pierre Gasly was the only AlphaTauri driver in the race and scored his first points of the season. Like Yuki Tsunoda a week earlier, he too came no further than P8. The Frenchman has started his season consistently.

Magnussen: 8

After a spectacular P5 in Bahrain, Kevin Magnussen had to settle for ninth in Saudi Arabia. The Dane was competing at the front for a long time, but had some bad luck in the final phase of the race where he had to come in. The tactic of his team to stay outside during the first safety car did not work out well.

Hamilton: 4.5

It was a dramatic weekend for Lewis Hamilton. A gamble on Saturday worked out all wrong and resulted in the seven-time world champion being eliminated in Q1. On Sunday, there appeared to be no pace in the W13. The Brit climbed up, but for him too, staying out during the first safety car and not acting quickly when drivers dropped out in the closing stages of the race proved to be a bad choice.

Zhou: 6

Guanyu Zhou followed up his F1 debut with a solid performance in Saudi Arabia. The Chinese driver had to serve a penalty and then had to do another one because his team didn't watch the stopwatch properly. As a result, the Chinese came up short of a second points finish in a row.

Hulkenberg: 4.5

Nico Hulkenberg has done in two races what you would expect from a reserve driver. He was solid during qualifying and the race, but not more than that either. It remains to be seen what Sebastian Vettel will be able to do in this car. That will give a real insight into how well Nico has done.

Stroll: 5

This time Lance Stroll did qualify better than the reserve driver in the seat next to him, but it was again far from convincing this weekend. In the final laps he was hit by Alexander Albon, but the Canadian himself clumsily slammed the door in the process. The penalty for Albon is justified, but Stroll certainly didn't keep himself alive either.

Albon: 5.5

Alexander Albon was just a bit too eager in the final laps and placed a somewhat clumsy action on Stroll. The latter did not give a meter of space and so Albon ended up with a flat tyre next to the track. The Thai can however look back on a solid weekend in Saudi Arabia, where he again proved to be the number one of Williams.

Bottas: 7

Valtteri Bottas is clearly in a good mood at Alfa Romeo. The dropout will be a setback, but on Saturday Bottas impressed again with an eighth place finish and on Sunday he looked to be on his way to a good points finish.

Alonso: 7.5

Fernando Alonso was beaten by his teammate on Saturday, was faster on Sunday, but made too big a show of it. Of course, the team management should have intervened, but the Spaniard was also quite aggressive towards his younger teammate.

Ricciardo: 4

Daniel Ricciardo has not found his form yet. He was again beaten by Norris and to make matters worse had to park his car on the side of the track when it stalled. The Australian will be hoping for a much better performance at his home race in two weeks.

Latifi: 2

Nicholas Latifi deserves no more than a '2' after his miserable performance in Saudi Arabia. The Canadian is clearly under pressure after also being run down by Alexander Albon. However, despite that pressure, you can never go wrong twice. His mechanics won't thank him for that either.

Schumacher: 5.5

Mick Schumacher was not in action on Sunday after a violent crash on Saturday. Although people point out the circuit and how unsafe it is, it was a personal mistake by the German that caused him to end up in the wall. The son of Michael Schumacher is clearly under pressure from Kevin Magnussen, who was again faster in Saudi Arabia, and this despite the fact that he had never driven at this track before and barely made it onto the track in practice.

Tsunoda: n/a.

As Yuki Tsunoda was not in action in qualifying and the race, it is unnecessary to give the Japanese a grade.