Bahrain GP driver ratings

An unexpected victor? Absolutely. But an undeserved one? That would be harsh on Lewis Hamilton - for the world champion put himself in the perfect position to capitalise on Charles Leclerc's brutal misfortune.

As Sky F1's Martin Brundle said: "Lewis' racecraft won him that race. Of course Charles' car let him down badly, but the moves Hamilton made on team-mate Bottas and then on Vettel, meant that he was the one sitting there ready to pick up the pieces from a Ferrari issue.

"Lewis has lost enough races in his career with bad reliability so I wouldn't want to take anything away from him."

Hamilton, who was only three hundredths of a second slower than Sebastian Vettel's quicker Ferrari in qualifying, was especially pleased with his wheel-to-wheel combat when racing his title rival from the last two seasons, and it's difficult to remember the world champion losing one of those battles in recent years.
Rating out of ten: 9

Valtteri Bottas leaves Bahrain with his championship lead intact but he was unable to repeat his faultless performance of two weeks ago.

Once again the Finn made a flying start to jump Hamilton and was running second by Turn Four after getting past Leclerc. But he gifted Leclerc the position back as he locked up on the second lap before having to yield to Hamilton to avoid a potential race-ending collision.

After seeing off the challenge of Max Verstappen, Bottas lucked into second place following the woes of Vettel and Leclerc, but few will deny him this good fortune after his luckless 2018.

"It was not the perfect race but, in the end, luck was on our side and we'll definitively take it," said Bottas. "Especially me, after the bad luck from last year."
Rating out of ten: 7.5

Formula 1 has a new young star. Charles Leclerc was perfect all weekend - topping two practice sessions and every segment of qualifying on his way to an emphatic pole position, and he was then dominant in the race, albeit after a poor start and subsequent sweeping overtakes on Bottas and Vettel.

But then disaster struck. It was impossible not to feel for the youngster when he said, "there's something wrong with the engine... oh my god" with just over 10 laps remaining, but it was also remarkable just how well Leclerc took the defeat afterwards, handling his emotions with grace and maturity. And as Hamilton said, he'll learn from the heartbreak and bounce back stronger.
Rating out of ten: 10

Max Verstappen felt he got the maximum out of his Red Bull-Honda which was simply unable to compete with the pace of Ferrari and Mercedes. He almost lucked into a second podium in a row, but the Safety Car denied him the chance to reel in Leclerc's limping Ferrari and Verstappen admitted it would have been undeserved.

"To be honest we didn't deserve to be on the podium so I'm actually not too disappointed to be fourth," he said.

"I think it's still better than what the race showed because we had no pace. I couldn't do anything."

The hope for Max and Red Bull will be that the issues they suffered were merely track specific and not a deeper issue on fast circuits.
Rating out of ten: 8

While Sebastian Vettel was certainly on for the podium in Bahrain, he had been thrashed by Leclerc in Bahrain even before his costly spin. And another error in wheel-to-wheel combat did nothing to improve the German's standing.

Sky F1's Nico Rosberg was far from impressed with Vettel, claiming: "Vettel is continuing what he was doing last year, messing it up again, spinning around again in a battle. It's unbelievable that it keeps on happening to him."

Does Bahrain signal a changing of the guard? And do Ferrari have a new number one title contender?

"There will be moments on rainy days or challenging days when Sebastian Vettel's experience might just pay off. But it won't be long until Leclerc is the main man there."

Big words from Brundle.
Rating out of ten: 6.5

Find out more about Sky Sports F1

We knew Lando Norris was a huge talent, but surely even he couldn't have expected as good a start as this. The British rookie, and youngest driver on the grid, has reached Q3 in both of his debut grands prix and on Sunday he achieved McLaren's best result since the 2018 season-opener. Before Norris, only Fernando Alonso has finished sixth or higher for the team in the last three years, and he had only done that four times.

Norris was out-qualified by Sainz and may have been beaten in the race if not for his team-mate's accident, but from there the teenager was faultless, expertly holding off Kimi Raikkonen, F1's elder statesman.

"I think Lando Norris has been outstanding in all the sessions he's been in this year," said Brundle.
Rating out of ten: 9

Alfa Romeo are sitting fourth in the constructors' standings after two races and Kimi Raikkonen has got them there single-handedly, scoring all of the team's points. The Iceman's still got it.

Raikkonen, who like Norris has also reached both of the season's opening qualifying final shootouts, will have been disappointed not to have beaten the Brit but McLaren appear to be the midfield leader at the moment, particularly on race pace. "It was a nice race, there were some good battles," said Kimi.
Rating out of ten: 8.5

It's not been the start Pierre Gasly would have been dreaming of when he was handed the Red Bull seat after another testing weekend for the Frenchman. While Verstappen was battling for a third-row grid spot, Gasly failed to escape Q2 as he qualified behind his predecessor Daniel Ricciardo and Toro Rosso's Alexander Albon.

Gasly did pull off a few good overtakes come race day while he was promoted to eighth after the late retirement of Nico Hulkenberg. The 23-year-old admitted he is still not comfortable in the RB15 and needs to adapt his driving style, but team boss Christian Horner hopes Gasly will take confidence from sealing his first points for the team.
Rating out of ten: 6

Alex Albon scored his first F1 points in Bahrain. The first of many? Absolutely, judging by his solid start to life at Toro Rosso.

The London-born Thai driver felt like he "was always fighting with someone at some point" and though he was fortunate with the late Renault retirements, he fully deserved a top-10 finish.

Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost added: "He showed fantastic performance, especially in managing the tyres towards the end of the race. He did a really good job."
Rating out of ten: 8

"Not a bad result," was Sergio Perez's verdict after coming home in 10th for his first point of the season. The Mexican was among the benefactors of Renault's late double retirement, although Perez felt the resulting Safety Car had denied him the chance to pass Albon for ninth. And it was another clear win for Perez in his qualifying head-to-head with new team-mate Lance Stroll.
Rating out of ten: 7

Not the start Antonio Giovinazzi would have wanted to his Formula 1 career. The Italian struggled in qualifying once again - being knocked out in Q1 while your team-mate makes it to Q3 is unacceptable these days - and he then endured a scrappy start to the race, clattering into Kvyat's Toro Rosso.

Giovinazzi did recover in the closing stages and was close to the points, but he's got to improve and get closer to Raikkonen in the coming races.
Rating out of ten: 5.5

An underwhelming weekend for Daniil Kvyat, not helped by an "operational issue" in qualifying that left him on used tyres during Q2, allowing team-mate Albon to out-qualify him for the second weekend in a row. He then limped home in 12th.

The Russian had recovered from a poor start to be running in eighth by lap 12, but contact from Giovinazzi as the Alfa Romeo driver forced his way past sent Kvyat spinning and out of points contention.
Rating out of ten: 6

What on earth happened to Kevin Magnussen and Haas on race day? The Dane was best of the rest in qualifying with one of his finest-ever laps as he lined up sixth on the grid with the Haas displaying exceptional one-lap pace. But it was a different matter in race trim as he dropped seven positions to come home 13th and a lap down.

Magnussen was left perplexed, saying: "It's a little unbelievable to be able to qualify sixth, best-of-the-rest, then be so off in the race like we were. We need to try and understand why we were so far off in the race, having been so good in qualifying. We have some homework to do."
Rating out of ten: 6.5

A weekend to forget for Lance Stroll in the Racing Point. Knocked out in Q1, over three tenths off the pace of team-mate Sergio Perez and with only the two Williams behind, the Canadian then suffered damage in his clash with Romain Grosjean in the opening corners and was unable to make up positions.
Rating out of ten: 5.5

It's only fair to compare George Russell to his team-mate given Williams' struggles and once again the young Briton came out on top in his duels with Robert Kubica. That has to be the aim for last season's F2 champion as he seeks to make his name at the top level. "It was quite a good race from a personal perspective but obviously not too enjoyable finishing in P15," was Russell's verdict.
Rating out of ten: 7

An improved second race back from Robert Kubica in that he avoided damaging his Williams but he was again out-performed by team-mate George Russell and the only driver to finish two laps behind the leader. The Pole was unhappy with the balance on his car but qualified within four hundredths of a second of the sister car, while the pair enjoyed some good battles on race day.
Rating out of ten: 6

Did not finish...

Nico Hulkenberg was one of the standout drivers across the weekend and yet was let down by unreliability when it mattered most. The German had run solidly inside the top eight throughout practice, but he then made a shock exit from qualifying in Q1 as his Renault was hit by multiple issues. Despite that, Hulkenberg was set for a solid points finish after making up 11 places on race day to be running comfortably in sixth when his engine failed with just three laps remaining.
Rating out of ten: 8.5

Two races, two retirements and two weekends where he's been outperformed by his new team-mate; it's certainly not been a happy start for Daniel Ricciardo at Renault. The Australian managed to get his RS 19 into Q2 on Saturday, but then was hindered by opting for a one-stop strategy on Sunday, and made contact with Hulkenberg as his team-mate swept past him at Turn One on lap 39.

Ricciardo will seek to get more comfortable in his car when he tests this week and will hope China, where he was victorious last year, brings him more fortune.
Rating out of ten: 6

Carlos Sainz had made a flying start to Sunday's race but came off worse in his duel with former team-mate Max Verstappen as he sought to snatch fifth place on lap three. Contact with the Red Bull left the Spaniard's McLaren damaged and tumbling down the order before a gearbox issue forced a second retirement of the season.

"I had better pace than the Red Bull's in front and it felt like I was faster than the Mercedes," said Sainz when reflecting on his strong start. Where could he have finished?
Rating out of ten: 7.5

The start of 2019 is proving to be a repeat of 2018 for Romain Grosjean as he retired for the second race in a row with car damage. The Frenchman started 11th after picking up a three-place grid penalty after blocking Lando Norris in qualifying and he was then clouted inside the opening three corners on race day which sent him to the back of the field before retirement on lap 16.
Rating out of ten: 5.5

Sky Sports F1 is the home of live and exclusive F1. Find out more here to watch the 2019 season live