Driver Ratings: 2018 Canadian Grand Prix
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The Canadian Grand Prix may not have delivered its typical blockbuster dose of sporting unpredictability, but what it did serve up in 2018 was a host of intriguing storylines.
Several drivers delivered hugely impressive performances. Sebastian Vettel was at his imperious best, taking pole position on Saturday before delivering a textbook demonstration of how to control a race.
He led every lap en route to his third win of the season. Vettel’s domination was in stark contrast to his main title rival Lewis Hamilton, who endured a difficult weekend and ended up finishing in fifth.
Managing an overheating power unit during the race provided an unwelcome distraction for Hamilton but in truth, his weekend was unravelling well before his old specification engine began to sweat on Sunday.
Vettel’s 25 point haul compared with Hamilton’s 10 has resulted in a change of championship leader. Hamilton had slipped to second, with Vettel retaking the top spot by one point.
A perfect weekend for Vettel surely means a perfect score. Here are our DRIVER RATINGS for the 2018 Canadian Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel - 10
Qualified – 1st
Finished – 1st
Vettel’s Canadian Grand Prix was an exhibition of perfect race management. From pole position, he comfortably built a four-second lead during the opening 13 laps of 70 and then proceeded to manage the advantage. Preserving the tyres, he extended his opening stint on the ultrasoft rubber to lap 37 in order to shadow second-placed Bottas’ strategy. This was a beautifully measured drive to claim his third win of the season and reclaim the championship lead.
Valtteri Bottas - 9
Qualified – 2nd
Finished – 2nd
Not for the first time in 2018, Bottas had the measure of team-mate Hamilton all weekend. The reigning champion may have claimed six race victories around the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve, but Bottas is also a specialist at the venue. His second-place finish was his fourth consecutive podium finish in Canada. Defending against a charging Max Verstappen in the closing stages was impressive given that Bottas was forced to heavily manage his fuel in the latter part of the race. A well-judged second place.
Max Verstappen - 9
Qualified – 3rd
Finished – 3rd
After a turbulent Thursday in which his press conference threat to ‘headbutt’ the next journalist to ask him a question about his recent crashes, Verstappen delivered the perfect response on the circuit. Topping all three practice sessions, Red Bull’s power deficit in Q3 removed him from the equation in the battle for pole. His start was excellent, albeit matched by a strong defence of second place by Bottas. Verstappen’s late race pace – good enough to secure the fastest lap – allowed him to close on Bottas, but he missed out by 0.1s at the line.
Daniel Ricciardo - 8
Qualified – 6th
Finished – 4th
Monaco Grand Prix winner Ricciardo was shaded by his team-mate Verstappen throughout the weekend. He struggled to find grip on the exit of the tight Turn 10 hairpin during qualifying, accounting for the modest 0.1s deficit to Verstappen in Q3. Ricciardo made up for a disappointing qualifying with a solid race. He jumped Raikkonen at the start of the race and managed to undercut Hamilton with a stunning in-lap prior to his one and only pitstop. Had the race classification not been taken from lap 68 on account of the chequered flag being waved too early, Ricciardo would have pinched Verstappen’s fastest lap – indicative of his race pace.
Lewis Hamilton - 6
Qualified – 4th
Finished – 5th
Championship leader by 14 points heading into the weekend, Hamilton never looked comfortable at a circuit at which he has dominated so often in the past. Qualifying proved challenging, as he suffered lock-ups on the entry to Turn 10 and struggled for traction on the exit. In the race, his pace was at times the slowest of the top six cars. He had a slow pitstop as his team removed a bodywork louvre to help to cure an overheating power unit, before running wide on the pit exit and posting a slow out-lap opened the door for Ricciardo to perform the undercut. The Aussie needed no second invitation. This was a weekend to forget for Hamilton.
Kimi Raikkonen - 6
Qualified – 5th
Finished – 6th
This was one of Raikkonen’s bizarrely anonymous weekends. Despite matching Vettel’s pace in the opening two segments of qualifying, he fell to 0.3s adrift of pole in the all-important Q3 runs. In the race, he lost out to Ricciardo at the start, was unable to extend his opening stint as far as Vettel and ended up nearly 30s behind at the chequered flag. Given that Hamilton was suffering a rare sub-par weekend, Ferrari and Vettel needed Raikkonen to inflict further damage and take points away from Hamilton. Raikkonen missed the opportunity.
Nico Hulkenberg - 8
Qualified – 7th
Finished – 7th
Hulkenberg was best of the rest in qualifying and in the race, signifying another excellent weekend in what is shaping up to be his strongest season in F1. A mistake at Turn 3 on the opening lap, running deep on the brakes and missing the apex allowed Force India’s Ocon to sneak through into seventh. Hulkenberg regained the place after an issue in Ocon’s stop. Team-mate Sainz did demonstrate superior pace in the closing stages. Nevertheless, Hulkenberg was the winner of F1’s ever competitive ‘second-tier’ race.
Carlos Sainz Jr - 8
Qualified – 9th
Finished – 8th
Ninth in qualifying and 0.2s adrift of his team-mate Hulkenberg, there was potentially time to be found for Sainz on Saturday. However, over the course of Sunday, he arguably had better pace than Hulkenberg as the two ran nose-to-tail for much of the race. He, like Hulkenberg, gained track position over Ocon after Force India’s pitstop issues. Sainz’s lap four contact with Perez was accurately deemed a racing incident by the stewards.
Esteban Ocon - 7
Qualified – 8th
Finished – 9th
Ocon was hugely unfortunate in the race. He deserved seventh place on Sunday after capitalising on Hulkenberg’s lap one mistake to take seventh place. While unable to extend a gap to the Renaults behind, Ocon had done enough to stay ahead during the pitstop phase. That was until an issue with the rear jack cost Ocon an extra two seconds in the pitlane and meant that he was leapfrogged by both Hulkenberg and Sainz. Unable to recover the lost track position, he ended up ninth.
Charles Leclerc - 9
Qualified – 13th
Finished – 10th
The Sauber rookie is forcing himself into the equation when Ferrari considers it’s driver options for 2019, with another points finish in Canada continuing a rich vein of form. Leclerc outqualified both McLaren’s in Q2 on Saturday and managed to defend admirably from Alonso in the opening part of the race. Given that he had to manage overheating brakes in the second half of the race, his pace to hold onto 10th place and the final points paying position in the closing stages was remarkable.
Pierre Gasly - 8
Qualified – 16th
Finished – 11th
To have nearly salvaged a points scoring finish in what was a truly arduous weekend for Gasly was an impressive result. After reliability issues struck his upgraded Honda power unit on Friday, the team reverted to the old specification for the rest of the weekend. Gasly initially struggled in qualifying, dropping out at the Q1 stage in 16th place. However, his race performance made up for a tricky Saturday as he extended a set of hypersoft tyres to lap 23 at the start before posting an impressive pace on the supersoft compound for the remainder of the race. A well-executed Sunday from Gasly.
Romain Grosjean - 7
Qualified – DNQ
Finished – 12th
Barring the Australian Grand Prix in which he was running in fifth before his Haas team’s pitstop calamity, the Canadian Grand Prix was Grosjean’s best race of the season so far. Saturday was written off by another dose of hideous misfortune – an intercooler issue led to a dramatic pitlane smoke screen in the opening minute of Q1 and an end to Grosjean’s qualifying session. Starting from last he gambled on the emergence of a safety car by staying out on ultrasoft tyres until lap 48 of 70. His pace during this marathon stint was very strong, even as his tyres neared the end of their lifespan. It was a performance that deserved to be rewarded with points, but the wait continues for Grosjean in 2018.
Kevin Magnussen - 5
Qualified – 11th
Finished – 13th
Considering that he started ahead of Grosjean on the grid, with a far more comfortable stint length and strategy, Magnussen’s 13th place finish behind his team-mate was a curious result. Ultimately, he lacked pace throughout the weekend, finishing behind Grosjean in all three practice sessions. This was definitely a forgettable weekend for Magnussen.
Sergio Perez - 6
Qualified – 10th
Finished – 14th
Another Q3 appearance marked a decent Saturday for Perez, albeit another qualifying session in which he was outqualified by team-mate Ocon after he failed to deliver in the final segment. His move around the outside of Sainz at Turn 1 on lap four of the race was ambitious and he ultimately paid a heavy price for his exuberance as he hopped across the grass and dropped from 10th to 13th. He was then passed by Gasly and slid to 14th. As the earliest driver to make a pitstop on lap nine, Perez was forced into a two-stop strategy, effectively nullifying any hopes of the points finish which the car’s pace warranted.
Marcus Ericsson - 5
Qualified – 19th
Finished – 15th
Unlike team-mate Leclerc, Ericsson never looked likely to score points in what was a challenging race. He made a pitstop on the opening lap as the safety car was deployed, switching to the supersoft tyres, which he managed to stretch until the chequered flag. It was a brilliant demonstration of his ability to preserve tyres, but that is not the criteria upon which points are awarded.
Stoffel Vandoorne - 5
Qualified – 15th
Finished – 16th
The weekend started in reasonably promising fashion for Vandoorne. He matched Alonso’s pace through the practice sessions and while he was eventually outqualified by his team-mate it was only 0.009s which separated them. His Sunday was arduous. Picking up a puncture on the opening lap after running over debris, he was unable to stretch his supersoft tyres to the end of the race and had to make a second pitstop on lap 48. Despite closing in on Ericsson in the closing stages, Vandoorne was unable to catch and pass him. It was indicative of McLaren’s struggles across the weekend but also Vandoorne’s below-par race pace.
Sergey Sirotkin - 5
Qualified – 18th
Finished – 17th
After a strong weekend in Monaco was concealed by Williams’ lacklustre car performance, Sirotkin failed to demonstrate a driver performance surpassing that of his machinery in Canada. He was outqualified by team-mate Stroll. In the race, his pace on the supersoft tyre allowed him to hang onto the back of pack. However, fitting the ultrasoft tyres on lap 26, Sirotkin’s relative pace dropped significantly. Whether that was predominantly a car of driver related issue is admittedly unknown. What is known is that he finished 22.5 seconds behind a two stopping Vandoorne.
Fernando Alonso - 6
Qualified – 14th
Finished – DNF
At least his first attempt at the Le Mans 24 Hours next week will provide a distraction for Alonso to help him to forget a miserable Canadian Grand Prix. McLaren struggled for pace on Saturday and after qualifying in 14th, the only silver-lining for Alonso was that he was ahead of his team-mate. On Sunday, he battled with Leclerc in the early stages, eventually edging ahead of the Sauber. It suggests that 10th may have been possible for Alonso had a broken pipe not ended his race early.
Brendon Hartley - 6
Qualified – 12th
Finished – DNF
Being collected by an oversteering Stroll on the opening lap of the race was hugely unfortunate for Hartley following a promising Saturday. He convincingly outqualified team-mate Gasly and had demonstrated points scoring potential with strong long-run performance in practice. The attempt to pass Stroll around the outside of Turn 5 was ambitious but certainly not outrageous.
Lance Stroll - 4
Qualified – 17th
Finished – DNF
Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams has defended Stroll’s season so far and quite rightly so – he has performed very well in the circumstances that the team finds itself in. Canada, however, was not a highlight, with the hometown hero picking up a snap of oversteer at the wrong time and pitching himself and Hartley into the Turn 5 barrier. Given that the incident followed what was another strong launch off of the line from Stroll, in which he had jumped both McLaren’s and reached 13th, simply adds insult to injury.