F1 Driver Ratings: Monaco 2019

Lewis Hamilton managed to overcome the relentless pressure of Max Verstappen to win the Monaco Grand Prix. It was a high intensity battle with tension building as we awaited the inevitable attempted overtaking manoeuvre from Verstappen.

A five-second time penalty for Verstappen (after the team released him into the path of Valtteri Bottas during the pitstop) demoted the Dutchman off the podium, down to fourth position and promoted Sebastian Vettel up to second and Bottas into third.

Mercedes failed to make it six consecutive 1-2 finishes so Ferrari and Mercedes themselves remain the holders of the most consecutive 1-2 finishes.

As always, the order below is the finishing order of the Grand Prix.

2019 Monaco Grand Prix – Circuit de Monaco

Lewis Hamilton: 9/10

Sebastian Vettel: 7.5/10

Valtteri Bottas: 7.5/10

Max Verstappen: 8.5/10

Pierre Gasly: 7/10

Carlos Sainz: 9/10

Daniil Kvyat: 8/10

Alexander Albon: 7/10

Daniel Ricciardo: 8.5/10

Romain Grosjean: 8/10

Lando Norris: 6/10

Sergio Perez: 6.5/10

Nico Hulkenberg: 6/10

Kevin Magnussen: 8/10

George Russell: 8/10

Lance Stroll: 4.5/10

Kimi Raikkonen: 6/10

Robert Kubica: 6/10

Antonio Giovinazzi: 4.5/10

RETIRED

Charles Leclerc: 4/10

Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton take the highest rating of the week with a score of 9/10.

Sainz missed the first practice session yet bounced back brilliantly to qualify a commendable 9th. The Spaniard showed true class at the start, holding off Alexander Albon at turn one before going around the outside of Daniil Kvyat at turn three on cold tyres and cold brakes. It was a calculated risk but it paid off in abundance as Sainz was able to finish best of the rest, in 6th place when McLaren probably did not have the 4th best car.

I was also impressed when Sainz managed to pump in the fastest lap of the race just at the right time after he pitted to make sure he stayed ahead of both of the Toro Rosso drivers. Many don’t rate Sainz highly but he is having a good season despite the bad luck and results like he had in Monaco will be massively important in the midfield fight.

Lewis Hamilton drove extremely well to keep Verstappen behind him for 65 laps. People will say, “you can’t overtake at Monaco, he didn’t have to do anything special.” To keep it out of the walls lap after lap, even if you are not pushing at 100%, takes a lot of effort mentally and physically. It is a challenge that is underestimated.

Daniel Ricciardo did something similar last year too, but Verstappen applied much more pressure on Hamilton this year compared to Vettel applying pressure on Ricciardo last year. Also, I rated Ricciardo’s drive as pretty exceptional too. Many would have not been able to keep the pace Hamilton did and many would have cracked but Hamilton didn’t. I was just waiting for one small mistake from Hamilton, be it a missed apex or running off line momentarily but it never came. Hamilton’s calls on the radio were over the top and I believe some of it is mind games for his rivals, knowing that some of his radio is broadcast, but it was his best drive since Monza and Singapore last year in my opinion.

Lance Stroll and Antonio Giovinazzi both struggled again – these two, not for the first time, lacking pace and still yet to impress throughout a race weekend. But, they don’t quite get the lowest rating after Charles Leclerc lost his head after qualifying and in the race.

Leclerc not getting through to Q2 is 80% the team’s fault but 20% his own. As always in this situation, you can always say that if Leclerc’s banker lap was quicker then he would have definitely had not needed to go out again. However, Leclerc himself asked to go out again but the team stuck to their own choice and played the riskier option of not going out for a second run. A complete mistake on their side and they need to take the blame.

Leclerc showed his inexperience really by stating he would go for everything after qualifying and in the race he did exactly that. I admired that he went for it, making overtakes work on Lando Norris and Romain Grosjean but when it came to Nico Hulkenberg, he misjudged the move and caught the wall with his rear right tyre. A small driver error with big consequences (similar to some of Vettel’s mistakes in the last 12 months).

Leclerc had a puncture but then made another mistake by driving far too fast with a punctured tyre, ripping the tyre apart and damaging the floor and the suspension as a consequence. Whenever you have a puncture, you have to drive slow – no matter how agonising it is – but I can’t help but feel that Leclerc was driving angrily. It is only his second season and because he is in a Ferrari, at the front, we are seeing these mistakes with much more attention on him compared to if he was in an Alfa Romeo. These things will happen and it will be interesting to see how he bounces back.