MERCEDES
Lewis Hamilton
Championship position: 1st; Points 213; Best race position: 1st (x5)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 7-5
I don’t think all is completely 100 per cent with Lewis, but he’s leading the championship and some of his performances have been incredible. His win from 14th in Germany proved that he never gives up, while there’s nobody better than him at leading from the front.
Then there are the amazing qualifying laps, like Silverstone – just a sensational lap and it was an utter delight to watch a driver do that. After qualifying he was visibly shaking, after the race he didn’t want to talk to anybody because he’d given so much.
I do wonder if the toll and constant pressure of fighting for world championships is occasionally taking it out of Lewis a little bit. There have been times where I’ve thought, ‘that’s not the Lewis we’ve seen and heard in the past’. He strikes me as a man who needs a couple of weeks away from the racetrack to recharge his batteries and come back stronger, which he often does in the second half of the season.
But he deservedly leads the championship and, with the biggest title advantage going into a summer break in five years, he’ll take some catching. We can’t imagine the pressure he’s under.
Valtteri Bottas
Championship position: 4th; Points 132; Best race position: 2nd (x5)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 5-7
Valtteri has been so unfortunate at times. He should have won in Baku, could have won in China, and could have won in Germany. He’s playing the perfect supporting role to his team-mate, and driving as consistently as we’ve ever seen.
I do believe that he’s been possibly the most unlucky man on the grid and I love the way he just bounces back with the same cheery demeanour, even though he’s had a bad race through no fault of his own.
Is there more to come from Valtteri? I don’t know, but I’d like to see it. I’d like to see him go all out attack and challenge for the championship.
But he thoroughly deserves a new contract at Mercedes. From his own personal perspective, it would have been nice to get a two-year deal – he deserves a bit of reward for doing the job he’s employed to do very well. Just don’t call him a wingman!
FERRARI
Sebastian Vettel
Championship position: 2nd; Points 189; Best race position: 1st (x4)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 10-2
Seb’s showing signs of brilliance but he’s also making mistakes. Baku at the restart, France, when he went into the back of Valtteri Bottas, and famously in Germany.
You don’t often win championships by making these sort of errors.
He’ll kick himself if he doesn’t win the title this year because he’s in the fastest car. He’s making very good use of it at times, nobody has got poles more than him this year and whenever that happens, Vettel wins the world championship.
But he’s now 24 points behind Hamilton, and if Mercedes catch up in development, he’ll rue some of those mistakes.
Kimi Raikkonen
Championship position: 3rd; Points 146; Best race position: 2nd (x2)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 2-10
I think Kimi deserves another year at Ferrari. He’s been on the podium the last five races and he was the only man over the triple header to be on the podium at every single race.
If Bottas is doing as good a job as Mercedes want him to, Kimi’s doing the same for Ferrari.
He needs to improve in qualifying but he’s doing it in the races and giving the performances Ferrari need from him. People keep saying look to the future but while he’s doing a good job in the present, why the rush?
I’d love to see him win again in Formula 1 and he occasionally gets himself in a position to do that but it doesn’t work out for him. Kimi’s still got it, and it would be a shame to lose him.
RED BULL
Daniel Ricciardo
Championship position: 5th; Points 118; Best race position: 1st (x2)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 3-9
His future has been a distraction, and even though he has now made his decision, a shock decision at that, there will be even more focus on his performances on the track now.
He needs to improve in qualifying against his team-mate, but we’ve seen him win twice this year and both were contrasting magnificent drives.
In China he was the ultimate opportunist but his overtaking was sensational, while in Monaco he ground it out for a thoroughly-deserved victory. It was a joy to see it finally come for him.
He is up against a very tough team-mate who has had more reliability issues. Ricciardo is 13 points ahead of Max Verstappen, but will he finish ahead of him in the championship? I’ll go out on a limb and say he won’t this year.
He’s taking a risk, a big risk, by moving to Renault and I do hope Daniel knows what he’s doing.
Max Verstappen
Championship position: 6th; Points 105; Best race position: 1st (x1)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 9-3
Verstappen and Ricciardo push each other really well and it really works for Red Bull. Just a shame this will probably be the last we’ll see of it!
A winner in front of his adoring fans in Austria, Verstappen seems to have found a way to keep calm without losing his driving style. He’s not changed his style at all but he’s not making the mistakes now as he was at the start of the season.
His old man hasn’t been around quite as much – I don’t know if there’s been a connection – I think it’s just a coincidence that his form has improved since Jos took a bit more of a back seat.
He needs calmness and stability off the track to go and produce some storming results on it.
RENAULT
Nico Hulkenberg
Championship position: 7th; Points 52; Best race position: 5th (x1)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 7-5
Nico is justifiably the best of the rest at the moment and he’s not doing much wrong, apart from Baku where he made his one big error.
He’s more under pressure from Carlos Sainz than he has been with previous team-mates at Renault, but he does produce the goods when called upon. I thought his Silverstone drive on the hard compound tyre was a true testament of his ability.
He admits now that he’s not going to ever join one of the big three teams and I think that’s a shame, it would be lovely to see what he could have done.
But he is a must-have for any team that wants to win the midfield battle.
Carlos Sainz
Championship position: 11th; Points 30; Best race position: 5th (x1)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 5-7
Carlos is another for whom his future is a bit of a distraction at the moment. When he’s good, he’s very, very good – but he’s not consistent enough.
He is at a crossroads in his career. Big reputation, big talent, but where does he go? Who wants Sainz? McLaren probably seems his best option for next year and it would be good to see him get that opportunity next to Fernando Alonso.
You can’t really fault him but you can’t find a reason to massively praise him, either. That’s not damning, but he’s just performing to a certain benchmark.
HAAS
Kevin Magnussen
Championship position: 8th; Points 45; Best race position: 5th (x2)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 8-3
I’ve been really impressed by Magnussen this year. He’s made a massive improvement.
Kevin has got his head down, he’s producing the goods, getting consistent results, out-scoring and out-qualifying Romain Grosjean, and doing a really solid job for the team. He should be proud.
Saying that, there are times he puts himself in a position on the track where he’s going to attract criticism from other drivers and even Guenther Steiner jokes that he’s got a season ticket at the stewards.
In a very driven, single-minded sport, he is more singularly-minded than any other driver!
Romain Grosjean
Championship position: 14th; Points 21; Best race position: 4th (x1)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 3-8
I don’t know where you start with Grosjean. He produces flashes of brilliance, but there also moments where you think what on earth is this guy doing in F1? He makes mistakes, he makes errors and he cracks under pressure.
The moaning and whinging has stopped to a certain extent but you do feel the team are losing patience with him a little bit. It’s such a shame, because Romain came to Formula 1 with such a big reputation and he’s never quite matched that for one reason or another.
I think he will look at this season and be disappointed with the way that it’s gone. There have been too many DNFs, too many crashes, and not enough deliverance of the expectations that Haas have placed upon him as their lead driver.
FORCE INDIA
Esteban Ocon
Championship position: 12th; Points 29; Best race position: 6th (x2)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 9-3
Ocon’s has had three DNFs this season but he’s out-qualifying Sergio Perez, and he’s out-scoring Perez most of the time.
He’s rated highly, he’s loved by the team and he produces the results for them.
I think he’s a terrific driver, I really do, and I’d love to see him in a top team one day. It’s where he deserves to be – he has the talent.
Sergio Perez
Championship position: 10th; Points 29; Best race position: 3rd (x1)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 3-9
You’ve got to be in it to win it and Sergio showed his experience with that podium in Baku, which has salvaged his season a little bit.
Force India just fits Perez. I’d hate to see him anywhere else because I think they bring a lot out of him and he brings a lot back to Force India. They are a great match.
They’ve got to sort their financial troubles out. It’s a transitional period for them, and for their drivers. I hope the second half of the season shows Perez and Force India’s true potential.
MCLAREN
Fernando Alonso
Championship position: 9th; Points 44; Best race position: 5th (x1)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 12-0
Fernando is once again driving above and beyond the potential of that car. That is a statement that is as fulsome in its praise of Fernando, as it is to sound worrying alarm bells for McLaren.
McLaren should not be scrambling where they are with this calibre of driver. I hope the changes they’re expecting come soon, because they’re a team in decline at the moment.
And will Alonso stay?
Stoffel Vandoorne
Championship position: 16th; Points 8; Best race position: 8th (x1)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 0-12
I don’t know what’s going wrong but something is quite obviously going wrong. He is not the man who stormed into Formula 1 off the back of a brilliant GP2 title win.
He doesn’t get his elbows out enough at the start, he loses too many places. He goes into qualifying and you know full well he’s going to get out-qualified by his team-mate, as he has done for the last 17 races.
Alonso is good, but come on.
TORO ROSSO
Pierre Gasly
Championship position: 13th; Points 26; Best race position: 4th (x1)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 7-3
Pierre produced an amazing performance in Bahrain, and was spectacular in Hungary.
The problem with both Gasly and Brendon Hartley is that you struggle to find a benchmark for them, because they’re not up against an experienced team-mate.
On his day, Gasly looks very quick. But he’s not a Vettel, he’s not a Ricciardo, he’s not a Verstappen.
Brendon Hartley
Championship position: 19th; Points 2; Best race position: 10th (x2)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 3-7
Hartley has been unfortunate. He’s had couple of big crashes and has missed out in the race a couple of times, like Hungary last weekend. But his pace hasn’t been there consistently.
Red Bull aren’t always going to find a star from the junior team, and while you may consider Gasly, would you ever put Hartley in that seat?
No. And that’s the reason Toro Rosso exist, to find drivers and engineers that can complement the senior Red Bull team.
SAUBER
Charles Leclerc
Championship position: 15th; Points 13; Best race position: 6th (x1)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 9-3
You’ve got to love Leclerc.
Like Vandoorne, he came in with a massive reputation. As a rookie he won F2, and he won GP3 the year before. That’s a lot of pressure, and he put himself under even more pressure in the first couple of races.
But he calmed down a bit, and he’s just produced the goods time after time. He’s been fighting Alonso out on the track and not looking like a fish out of water in any way, able to hold his own with one of the best there have ever been.
It’s been a delight to watch him. He doesn’t always get it right, but he’s a rookie and he’s still learning. I’d like to see him continue his learning at Sauber, out of the massive glare that he would be under at Ferrari next year. If you make a mistake at Sauber then people will criticise you a bit, but if you do it at Ferrari everyone’s on your back.
You don’t want that, because this guy could be brilliant for years to come. Sauber seems like a really good place to be for him. Leclerc is one of the drivers of the year, without a doubt.
Marcus Ericsson
Championship position: 17th; Points 5; Best race position: 9th (x2)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 3-9
It’s great to see him scoring points but Ericsson should be doing better. He’s been in Formula 1 a long time now.
He’s getting into Q2 but some of the deficits he’s had to his young team-mate are worrying. Sauber, one of the teams of the year, will surely be considering his future.
WILLIAMS
Lance Stroll
Championship position: 18th; Points 4; Best race position: 8th (x1)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 5-7
I feel very sorry for Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin, who can do nothing to enhance their reputation given the car they’ve got.
They’ve gone off the track a lot, but these are two drivers that can’t do anything with the tools they’ve been given. They’ve been let down by the team.
Lance is a better racer than he is qualifier, and I do believe he could shine elsewhere.
SERGEY SIROTKIN
Championship position: 20th; Points 0; Best race position: 13th (x1)
Qualifying score v team-mate: 7-5
He’s the only driver without a point and on the face of it he’s having a bad season, but I honestly don’t think you can assess either of their drivers given the car they’re in.
Some of his qualifying performances have been very impressive, and he seems to have the edge over Stroll in that regard.
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