2017 Australian Grand Prix: Driver Ratings
- •
- 296 reads
- •
- 1,494 views
- •
- 14 min read
The eagerly anticipated 2017 season got underway with the traditional curtain raiser in Melbourne, Australia, after a tense race, it was Sebastian Vettel who took ultimately victory down under.
With the new regulations, new tyres and many of the drivers swapping teams, it was always going to be an interesting affair to see how they would fair.
Lance Stroll and Stoffel Vandoorne made their full debuts with Williams and McLaren respectively, Esteban Ocon began his first full season joining Force India.
The race had action up and down the field, giving plenty of talking points for everyone to digest, whether it was McLaren’s woes, Force India’s new pink livery, or whether Ferrari had the speed to chase down Mercedes.
The stage was set for a new season to begin in the search for a new Formula 1 world champion.
Here’s how we rated all 20 drivers on their first performance of the 2017 season.
Sebastian Vettel - 9
We all know what Sebastian Vettel is capable of, he is fast, tenacious and bold in every circumstance on the track.
In a surprise turn of events he managed to chase Hamilton through the early stages through the race, managing his tyres well but also maintaining his speed to keep up with the Mercedes.
Once the pitstops came around Ferrari and Vettel capitalised, making the stop at the right time meant the German jumped Hamilton in the pits and managed to scamper into the distance.
Vettel’s 43rd career victory may not mean as much as some others, but this one could give him the signal that a possible title challenge is ahead.
A superb performance throughout.
Lewis Hamilton - 8.5
Perhaps it was a story of what could have been for the three-time-world champion after finishing in second place.
After getting away in the lead and managing the first part of the race really well against the pressure of Vettel chasing him down.
However, Hamilton appeared to have had tyre wear issues meaning he pit earlier than his rivals which meant he fell behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and struggled to get past.
By the time the Dutchman made his stop, Hamilton couldn’t catch Vettel. This won’t deter the Briton as he is up for the fight against Ferrari and Vettel for the title.
Valtteri Bottas - 8.5
Many fans were sceptical of the Finn’s signing by Mercedes to replace the departing Nico Rosberg.
However, Bottas stood up the plate and delivered a superb performance, chasing his team-mate down in the final stages of the race, threatening to take second place away from him.
We haven’t seen the last of Bottas yet, he could prove to be dark horse in this year’s title race.
Kimi Raikkonen - 7.5
Raikkonen endured quite a lonely race in Australia not having the pace of his victorious Ferrari team-mate.
Not having the outright pace of any of the leaders of the weekend perhaps showed that the Finn is still not fully happy with the set-up on his SF70H.
While it wasn’t the most blinding of races for Raikkonen, solid performance securing early points for the team is a good start to the season for any driver.
Taking the fastest lap of the race might be a small consolation.
Max Verstappen - 7.5
Throughout the weekend Red Bull was further off the pace than it feared from testing and was on the back foot going into the race.
Verstappen made the most of his RB13 in qualifying and finished in fifth place, his highlight of the race was trying to attack Vettel and fend off the charging Hamilton as they made their first stops.
Plenty of work to do for the Dutchman and Red Bull, but don’t discount him out just yet.
Felipe Massa - 8
For a man who had announced his retirement six months ago, he put in a sterling performance in the new Williams FW40.
Like Raikkonen, Massa led quite a lonely race without any company, but maintained a solid pace throughout, something we’d come to expect from such an experienced driver.
The Brazilian’s speed certainly hasn’t gone anywhere yet.
Sergio Perez - 7.5
After failing to make Q3 in his new Force India, Perez led his race on a charge to battle through to the points.
It’s hard to tell where he and the team stack up in the pecking order, however, Perez is not a driver that gives up easily as his efforts showed.
Arguably he could have been fighting Massa had he not been held up in the early stages of the race.
Carlos Sainz - 7
For a Toro Rosso team that had struggled during winter testing, Sainz has certainly helped the team deliver during the race.
An eighth place finish will give him and the team hope that there is still more speed in STR12 to come, Sainz is one to watch as the season goes on.
Daniil Kvyat - 7
Like his Spanish team-mate, Kyvat performed well in the season-opener.
Managing a much longer first stint in the race meant he could carry a lot more speed into the final half of the race.
Unfortunately for the young Russian, an air pressure issue arose on his car which meant he had to make an unscheduled second stop to rectify the problem.
After a lacklustre 2016 season, this was certainly a good start to the new season.
Esteban Ocon - 7
A solid debut for the young Frenchman in scoring his first F1 point on his debut for Force India.
After battling through the pack, the highlight moment of his race came when he was trying to pass the McLaren of Fernando Alonso while trying to defend against Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg.
As Ocon made his move on the front straight to pass Alonso, Hulkenberg tried to pass both of them in a breathtaking move which led to all three battling side-by-side into Turn 1 with Ocon winning the fight.
It’s certainly not the last we’ve seen of him.
Nico Hulkenberg - 6.5
On his debut for Renault, Hulkenberg will have mixed feelings with regards to the performance he gave.
While the Albert Park circuit is unique in it’s nature, the Renault did not perform as it had first been realised, Hulkenberg struggled to keep up with the Force India’s in front of him but tried valiantly.
Good effort by the German but just not quite enough.
Antonio Giovinazzi - 8.5
Having only completed a small amount of testing for Sauber over the winter covering for the unfit Pascal Wehrlein
He got the call once again to drive on Saturday morning after Wehrlein withdrew himself from the event.
Giovinazzi put in one of the performances of the weekend, nearly knocking out his vastly more experienced team-mate Marcus Ericsson in qualifying, the young Italian had already shone brightly.
During the race, he managed to pace himself and keep his nose out of trouble.
Coming through to finish the race in 12th on his debut with so little preparation in not the most competitive Sauber has really put the spotlight on his name.
I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of him in F1.
Stoffel Vandoorne - 5.5
On his first full-time debut for McLaren, Vandoorne has jumped into a McLaren that has continued to have troubling issues.
Despite his efforts to pull that McLaren to a result, finishing in 13th place and the last car running at the end of the race shows there is much left to be desired.
We know Vandoorne is a very talented driver and the car is not helping him perform to the best of his abilities.
Fernando Alonso - 6
What else can be said about Fernando Alonso’s plight at McLaren?
He tried his absolute best to drag a result out of the car and even ran in the points for some of the duration of the race.
However, he couldn’t hold on any longer after Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg battled past in dramatic fashion.
Unfortunately, his day ended just three laps from the end after bodywork issues and a suspected broken floor meant he could go no further.
Kevin Magnussen - 2
Unfortunately for Magnussen, he endured one of the worst weekends of his F1 career in Australia.
Lack of pace compared to his team-mate in qualifying and collided with Marcus Ericsson on the first lap putting both of them in the gravel.
At least things can only get better from here on out.
Lance Stroll - 4.5
As far as debuts go, Stroll didn’t have anything to shout about, after a crash in FP3 set him back for qualifying, the young Canadian was always on the back foot going into the race.
After trying to make up places into Turn 1, he flat-spotted his front right tyre horribly and had to pit early on for fresh tyres.
He battled hard from there on out to make it back through the pack, but unfortunately, brake failure led to his retirement.
The weekend as a whole will have been a huge learning experience for him.
Daniel Ricciardo - 5
Not one for ever giving up is the ‘Honey Badger’, after putting his RB13 in the wall at Turn 14 in qualifying and left him with plenty of work to do for Sunday’s race.
A gearbox change left him starting in 15th, but a sensor issue stranded him at Turn 13 on his way to the grid which meant he had to start from the pitlane.
After his mechanics worked frantically to get his car running he did manage to join the race albeit two laps down.
On lap 25 his car decided it was enough and he had to retire, not the best of weekends for the Aussie.
Marcus Ericsson - 4
A rough weekend for the Swede, having been nearly been out-qualified by his stand-in team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi, Ericsson didn’t have a great race either.
Having been a victim of Kevin Magnussen’s mistake at Turn 3 and punted in the gravel, he failed to gather speed afterwards to make a comeback into the race.
Hydraulic issues put him out of the race on lap 14, but he will have to look at his own performance after Giovinazzi’s superb debut in the same car.
Jolyon Palmer - 3.5
If there was a weekend that could not get worse for anyone, it would have been Britain’s Jolyon Palmer.
Having crashed in the final corner in FP2 destroying his RS17, it really hampered his progress through the weekend.
Once his mechanics had repaired the car in preparation for Saturday, something was clearly wrong not matter how hard he tried, he was woefully off the pace and could not gather any speed for the rest of the weekend.
Sticking brake issues meant he had to retire early on, he’ll be hoping he’ll have got his bad luck out the way for the rest of the season.
Romain Grosjean - 5
The Frenchman’s second season at Haas was looking to get off on the right foot after qualifying having put his car sixth on the grid.
However, it was short-lived after just 13 laps when the Ferrari power unit had a water leak and meant he was out of the race.
A good start to the season for Grosjean, he’ll be hoping to carry that speed into the following races and get back on track.