DRIVER RATINGS: 10/10 for Max Verstappen and one other driver… but for who?

Max Verstappen - 10

Verstappen continues to show why he’s the man to beat this year with another faultless weekend in Canada. The Dutchman stormed to pole position in wet conditions by over 0.6s before converting that into his sixth victory of the year. Despite late pressure, Verstappen resisted Sainz to open up a sizeable championship lead ahead of the British GP.

• Verstappen beats Sainz to Canadian GP victory, Hamilton returns to the podium
• Red Bull ‘lost communication’ with Verstappen’s F1 car in Canadian GP
• What did Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz say in the cooling room?

Carlos Sainz - 9

Sainz’s strongest race of the year as he looked to have the best race pace of any driver in Montreal. A timely Safety Car gave Sainz a chance of challenging Verstappen for the victory - giving him six-lap fresher tyres in the closing phase of the race. Verstappen kept his cool and Red Bull’s superior straight-line speed meant Sainz’s long wait for a maiden grand prix victory goes on. 

Lewis Hamilton - 10 

The seven-time champion was back to his best on race day at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. After securing his best qualifying result of the year, Hamilton drove a very strong race, even setting the fastest lap at one point. Hamilton then stuck with the top two after the Safety Car to secure his second podium of the year.

George Russell - 8 

Russell’s decision to try the slicks in qualifying ultimately proved costly as he only managed eighth on the grid when a top three grid position was on the cards. Regardless, Russell wasn’t a match for his teammate over the 70 laps in Canada but it continues his remarkable streak of finishing every race in the top five.

Charles Leclerc - 8

Leclerc couldn’t have done much better than fifth in the end. It was a slow recovery for Leclerc who was stuck in the various midfield DRS trains before coming alive when he made his pit stop. The Ferrari driver went on the aggressive, lunging into the hairpin on both Alpines to move up the order. 

Esteban Ocon - 7

Despite not having the same electric pace as his teammate, Ocon picked up another big haul of points in Canada. The Frenchman also deserves credit for his teamwork in the closing laps, keeping Alonso in DRS - who was struggling with a power unit issue - to ensure either Alfa Romeo couldn’t overtake.

Fernando Alonso - 8

After qualifying second, Alonso will no doubt be disappointed to finish seventh and then receive a five-second penalty dropping him to ninth. Alpine’s decision not to stop the Spaniard under either Virtual Safety Car was perplexing as they didn’t even try to race the two Mercedes drivers. An engine clipping issue meant Alonso couldn’t overtake his teammate after the Safety Car, even defending from Bottas at the end of the race.

Valtteri Bottas - 7

Bottas returned to the points with a solid recovery to eighth. The Finn lost crucial ground on the opening lap after making a mistake into the final chicane, losing places to Perez and Albon. After that, Bottas spent too much time behind Albon with Williams’ straight-line speed superior to Alfa Romeo’s. However, the Safety Car came at the perfect time, ultimately finishing eight. Missing out on seventh thanks to great teamwork from the two Alpines ahead.

Guanyu Zhou - 9

Another impressive weekend for the Chinese rookie. He out-qualified Bottas for the second consecutive race and was unfortunate to not finish higher after losing a lot of time behind Stroll. Zhou lost out to his teammate through the Safety Car phase but overall, it was another strong weekend for the Alfa Romeo driver who seems to have found his feet after a poor run of results due to reliability.

Lance Stroll - 7

After a poor qualifying, Stroll enjoyed a strong race-day performance. His defensive positioning against Zhou was impressive, while the Safety Car caused by Tsunoda came at the perfect time, allowing the Canadian to switch to the mediums and make his way into the top 10. 

Daniel Ricciardo - 7

McLaren didn’t seem too competitive in Canada, particularly in the race with a lack of straight-line speed. The Australian missed out on the final point after losing out to Stroll after the Safety Car, who showed good pace at the end of the race on the mediums. McLaren will be hoping for a better race at Silverstone.

Sebastian Vettel - 7

The four-time champion had a serious shot at finishing in the points had Aston Martin stopped him under the late Safety Car. They didn’t and he lost out to his teammate and Ricciardo in the final 15 laps of the race. 

Alexander Albon - 7

Albon enjoyed his best qualifying of the year with 12th and ran as high as 11th in the early phase of the race, running ahead of Bottas for a dozen laps. An untimely Virtual Safety Car - Albon stopped one lap before - dropped him down the order. Albon did well to recover 13th after showing good pace on the hards once again.

Pierre Gasly - 6

An underwhelming race for Gasly as he dropped back on the opening lap to 17th. From then on, the Frenchman couldn’t recover as he came home in 14th at the chequered flag. A big downturn in performance compared to Monaco and Azerbaijan.

Lando Norris - 6

Norris' race was hampered after he was forced to revert back to an older power unit, costing him 0.3s on the straights. His race was completely ruined when he pit under the second Virtual Safety Car. Norris was forced to queue behind teammate Ricciardo and to make matters worse, McLaren didn’t have his tyres ready. A weekend out of his control.

Nicholas Latifi - 5

Another anonymous grand prix for Latifi, whose time in F1 is surely running out with Oscar Piastri waiting in the wings. Latifi endured another tricky weekend in his first-ever race on home soil.

Kevin Magnussen - 7

A missed opportunity for Magnussen after he secured Haas’ equal-best qualifying result of fifth. Things went wrong for him when he sustained damage on the opening lap. He was given the black and orange flag meaning he was forced to pit for a new front wing. 

Yuki Tsunoda - 4

A disappointing weekend in Montreal for Tsunoda, who ended the race in the barriers at Turn 2. Tsunoda’s crash did liven up the race with it resulting in the Safety Car but one to forget after starting from the back of the grid due to a power unit change.

Mick Schumacher - 7

The wait for Schumacher’s maiden F1 points goes on after an unfortunate retirement on Lap 20 of the race. Up until that point, Schumacher was enjoying a fine race running inside the points ahead of Zhou. Who knows what would have happened had Schumacher not suffered his reliability issue but still a strong weekend. 

Sergio Perez - 5

It was a torrid weekend for Perez and his feint title chances. The Mexican crashed in Q2 and his race ended prematurely due to a suspected gearbox issue. Perez didn’t look comfortable all weekend and he now trails teammate Verstappen by 46 points.