F1 Driver Ratings: Italy 2019

A tense and exciting Italian Grand Prix was won by Charles Leclerc which gave Ferrari their first win at Monza since 2010.

The Tifosi went crazy as Leclerc held off the two Mercedes’ of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton who tried to attack and overtake Leclerc multiple times. Renault had an exceptional day, with their best team result since their return to the sport in 2016 as Italian rookie Antonio Giovinazzi scored his best result of the season.

Here’s the Driver Ratings and as always, the order below is the finishing order of the Grand Prix.

2019 Italian Grand Prix – Monza

Charles Leclerc: 9/10

Valtteri Bottas: 7.5/10

Lewis Hamilton: 8/10

Daniel Ricciardo: 9/10

Nico Hulkenberg: 8/10

Alexander Albon: 7/10

Sergio Perez: 8.5/10

Max Verstappen: 5.5/10

Antonio Giovinazzi: 7.5/10

Lando Norris: 8/10

Pierre Gasly: 6.5/10

Lance Stroll: 7/10

Sebastian Vettel: 2/10

George Russell: 8.5/10

Kimi Raikkonen: 4/10

Romain Grosjean: 5/10

Robert Kubica: 4.5/10

Retired

Kevin Magnussen: 6.5/10

Daniil Kvyat: 8/10

Carlos Sainz: 7/10

The highest rating goes to Daniel Ricciardo and Charles Leclerc. Leclerc was on phenomenal form and drove brilliantly.

Some of his defensive moves were very questionable to say the least (more on that in this week’s F1 Talk) but he was on it all weekend and only a handful of drivers on the current grid would be able to win the way Leclerc did in my opinion.

Daniel Ricciardo was very good too, executing and making the most of a very quick Renault. He outqualified Nico Hulkenberg and had the better race pace, not making any mistakes and getting the most out of the car. Had their been a little bit more carnage at the front or a reliability issue, Ricciardo put himself in a position to be on the podium.

It’s no surprise to see Sebastian Vettel receive the very low rating of a two from me. Vettel was a tad unlucky in qualifying but also has himself to blame for not going for I when he was at the front of the queue in the shambles that was the third part of qualifying.

In the race, he simply made another mistake and I was devastated for him just like the Tifosi watching Vettel’s hopes of a win go on a flash. To make things worse, he drove across the track and into the path of Lance Stroll, causing Stroll to have a half spin.

At such high speeds this was incredibly dangerous and Stroll or someone else easily could have ‘T-boned’ Vettel which would have been very nasty, especially after the events of Belgium in the F2.

Racing drivers are hardwired to get going and lose as little time as possible no matter what so it is no surprise to see Vettel do something like that – I am 100% sure the other drivers on the grid would do exactly the same thing too.

You cannot defend Vettel’s actions though and I would have been tempted to give him the black flag, but you would have to be very, very brave to disqualify a Ferrari in the middle of a race at Monza.

But, it’s another mistake from Vettel and it just seems when the pressure is at its highest, he does crack. Whether it’s when he is wheel to wheel with another top driver or when the championship stakes are high, Vettel makes mistakes.

Even two of his world titles with Red Bull were not won easily and were won in a much tougher manner than they should have been, 2010 and 2012 and now at Ferrari when you have so much expectation and pressure from the team, the media, the fans, everyone, his weaknesses are being unravelled.

Without doubt, he still has the speed but it seems he cannot iron out these driver errors, unforced errors which we see far too often from a world champion.