F1 Driver Ratings: Mexico 2018

Max Verstappen made it five race wins in his Formula 1 career with another dominant display in Mexico. He may not have taken pole position but he went on to lead most of the race and take consecutive Mexican Grand Prix victories.

Sebastian Vettel had a strong race and took second place after Daniel Ricciardo suffered a hydraulics failure with just 10 laps to go to prevent a possible Red Bull 1-2. Kimi Raikkonen beat both Mercedes’ to take an 11th podium of the season.

But all of the spotlight was on Lewis Hamilton who finished just off the podium in 4th place which was more than enough to take a 5th world championship.

As per usual, the order you see is the finishing order of the race.

2018 Mexican Grand Prix – Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez

Max Verstappen: 9.5/10

Sebastian Vettel: 9/10

Kimi Raikkonen: 7.5/10

Lewis Hamilton: 8.5/10

Valtteri Bottas: 6.5/10

Nico Hulkenberg: 9/10

Charles Leclerc: 8.5/10

Stoffel Vandoorne: 7/10

Marcus Ericsson: 8/10

Pierre Gasly: 7.5/10

Esteban Ocon: 7/10

Lance Stroll: 6.5/10

Sergey Sirotkin: 6/10

Brendon Hartley: 7/10

Kevin Magnussen: 7/10

Romain Grosjean: 6.5/10

RETIRED

Daniel Ricciardo: 8.5/10

Sergio Perez: 8/10

Carlos Sainz: 8.5/10

Fernando Alonso: 7.5/10

There wasn’t really a standout “worst driver” in my opinion from the Mexican Grand Prix race weekend. It was also quite hard to judge because with lots of tyre degradation, drivers were on different strategies and I’m sure some teams used there drivers to slow other competitors down by giving them a less than optimal strategy.

The pecking order was very hard to read as well so I was unsure of whether I was being too lenient or strict on some drivers because the car performance may have made them look a lot better or worse than they really were. I have the same problem for every Grand Prix weekend to be honest, but Mexico was even harder than usual.

The highest rating goes to Max Verstappen, the race winner. He was faultless all weekend, bar 75 seconds of on track action. It was just his 2nd race win of the year but it is deserved after the recent run of form that he’s been on. I would love to see Verstappen fighting Hamilton and Vettel next year because he’s exciting and many drivers fear him when he’s on good form like he is at the moment.