The 2024 Spanish Grand Prix was one of strategy, suspense and stimulation, which ended with Max Verstappen taking his seventh race win of the campaign.
There was intrigue up and down the field, with various battles between teammates and tyre-saving imperative to an optimal race result.
From last to first, here are our driver ratings for F1’s latest outing at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Driver Ratings
Logan Sargeant – 2/10
With 2024 looking more and more like Logan Sargeant’s last year in F1, his recent race performances have made his likely exit extremely understandable.
Consistently miles off teammate Alex Albon’s pace, the only driver to be lapped twice in the race and just always seeming out of his depth, Sargeant will be desperately hoping for a better weekend in Austria.
Yuki Tsunoda – 4/10
A rare off-race for Yuki Tsunoda and RB in 2024, who despite out-qualifying teammate Daniel Ricciardo, fell back during the Grand Prix to finish 19th.
Even with a new upgrade package, RB were well off the pace this weekend.
Alex Albon – 6/10
Williams had firmly the slowest car in Barcelona, with the downforce-heavy nature of the circuit not favouring their machinery.
Yet still, after starting from the pit-lane Albon managed to finish above both Tsunoda and his teammate, maximising his result in a weekend to forget for his team.
Kevin Magnussen – 3/10
With his 2025 seat still in question, K-Mag needed a much better performance at the Spanish Grand Prix, with Ferrari reserve driver Oliver Bearman rumoured to be in line to take the Dane’s place at Haas.
Off the pace of teammate Nico Hulkenberg all weekend, coupled with a five-second time penalty for a false start, Magnussen needs results fast if he is to remain on the grid next year.
Valterri Bottas – 4/10
Kick Sauber still sit bottom of the constructor's standings, but Spain was a relatively good weekend for the team, with Valterri Bottas qualifying in 12th, but falling back to 16th in the race due to a poor strategy.
Despite the finish, a stronger base speed is promising for Bottas, who is still yet to be out-qualified by his teammate in 2024.
Daniel Ricciardo – 4/10
Ricciardo moved up three places during the race after a poor qualifying session, with the Honey Badger starting the Grand Prix in 19th.
A poor Saturday limits his overall score, with 2024 still not panning out to be the comeback year the Aussie hoped for.
Lance Stroll – 5/10
After a decent home race in Canada which resulted in points for Lance Stroll, Aston Martin seriously struggled in Spain with their package painfully uncompetitive.
Stroll was behind his teammate in both qualifying and the race but couldn’t have achieved a much better result in the machinery he had.
Guanyu Zhou – 7/10
Hands down Guanyu Zhou’s best race of the year, at a time where the Chinese pilot definitely needed it.
Another driver rumoured to lose out on his seat for next year, Zhou was over four-tenths quicker a lap than his teammate during the race and fully maximised his weekend.
Fernando Alonso – 5/10
A year ago, Fernando Alonso was left disappointed at the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix, but for slightly different reasons.
The veteran had finished off the podium for only the second time that year and had to settle for a lowly (at the time) seventh place.
Now, with 12th the absolute maximum he could achieve in the Aston Martin at his home race, Alonso will be demanding answers from Mike Krack and co’ regarding the constructor's dramatic drop in performance.
Nico Hulkenberg – 7/10
Oh, Nico Hulkenberg, why always you?
For the fifth time in seven races, Hulkenberg has finished an agonising 11th place, missing out on points yet again.
However, the future Audi driver fully maximised his car’s performance and once again, completely outclassed his teammate Magnussen.
Esteban Ocon – 6/10
Esteban Ocon earned his third point of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix where Alpine were comfortably the fifth-fastest car, allowing both their drivers to score in the same race for the first time this year.
Ocon however was slower than his teammate Pierre Gasly all weekend, despite being given new upgrades to help match his French counterpart.
Pierre Gasly – 8/10
Gasly was on fire from first practice all the way through to the chequered flag on Sunday and was extremely unlucky to lose eighth place to Sergio Perez late on in the race.
Only 0.15 tenths denied Gasly from a third-place grid slot in qualifying, and he was successfully keeping Oscar Piastri in the fastest car behind him during the first stint of the race, before a seven-second pit-stop cost him dearly.
Overall, a brilliant weekend for the Frenchman.
Sergio Perez – 3/10
Again, a scrappy and wholly unimpressive Grand Prix for Perez, who is still suffering a dreadful run of form.
After qualifying eighth, a three-place grid drop from Canada saw the Mexican once again start outside the top 10, forcing the Red Bull driver to work his way through the pack.
His three-stop strategy didn’t allow this, with four points his measly reward for another race to forget.
Oscar Piastri – 5/10
A mistake on his final Q3 lap as the Australian entered the final few corners of the Circuit de Catalunya ultimately ruined Piastri’s weekend, as it resigned him to a ninth-place start.
Some decent overtakes and strong pace allowed the McLaren pilot to finish seventh, but another scrappy performance in comparison to teammate Lando Norris isn’t what Piastri needed.
Carlos Sainz – 5/10
Qualified sixth, finished sixth – his final home race for Ferrari wasn’t one to remember for Carlos Sainz.
Despite overtaking teammate Charles Leclerc early on, Sainz was eventually re-passed by the Monegasque driver and the Spaniard was consistently slower than both Mercedes drivers all weekend.
With the Scuderia firmly fourth-fasted in Spain, Sainz couldn’t have achieved much more, but he also wasn’t overly impressive.
Charles Leclerc – 6/10
The past two races have seen Leclerc go from potential title challenger to podium-hopeful, with Ferrari seemingly passed by Mercedes in overall performance.
Despite that, Leclerc was ahead of Sainz in qualifying and the race, with George Russell’s fourth place almost his too.
The first race of the triple header wasn’t what Ferrari hoped for, but the starlet will be looking forward to Austria, where he will aim to repeat his 2022 heroics at the Red Bull ring next time out.
George Russell – 7/10
Russell came home fourth and for the first time in a while, finished behind Lewis Hamilton in both qualifying and the race.
After coming just 0.02 hundredths off teammate Hamilton on Saturday, Russell executed a brilliant start to lead by the first corner, but ultimately couldn’t hold on.
It looked like the Briton would finish third, but the unfavourable hard tyre slowed his pace dramatically, which saw his seven-time world champion teammate re-pass late on in the race and even almost allowed Leclerc to come past and take fourth.
Yet still, it was another strong result for Russell and Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton – 8/10
After a disappointing race last time out in Canada, where Hamilton looked a class behind teammate Russell, the icon of the sport bounced back to take his first podium of the year in Spain.
Coupled with his best grid slot of the season in third and some impressive overtakes at turn one, the British hero will be hoping this Grand Prix is the start of a turn in form for the rest of the 2024 campaign.
Overall, Mercedes look to be up in the podium fight each race now, which will be greatly welcomed back at Brixworth and Brackley.
Lando Norris – 7/10
Lando Norris took a second career pole -position on a weekend where McLaren had the fastest car, but he couldn’t convert it into victory.
The 24-year-old lost out to Russell and Verstappen at the start of the race and unlike the Dutchman, couldn’t pass the slower Mercedes.
This ultimately cost him the win, like in Imola and Canada, where perhaps if the roles were reversed, the world champion would have passed for the victory in the faster McLaren.
As another triumph passes Norris by, the Woking-based constructor will be hoping that Austria, the race which was the start of the turn around last year, will see their drivers go one better.
Max Verstappen – 9/10
There really isn’t too much to say anymore about this man, is there?
Not in the fastest car, starting second and losing out to Russell at the start, the Dutchman clinically moved into the lead on lap three and then precisely controlled the gap to a rampant Norris throughout the race to earn his third-straight victory in Spain.
Now with a 69-point lead in the driver's championship, can anyone seriously challenge Max Verstappen?
