Mid-season 2019 F1 driver ratings

Formula 1's mid-season break is a time for rest, reflection and - in this case - rating what happened in the first half of the year. Specifically, evaluating the performances of the 20 drivers over the first 12 races.

After every race, Autosport rates each driver out of 10 based on their performance throughout the weekend and these contribute towards the mid-season marks.

But the mid-season ratings also take into account wider factors such as progression, contribution to the team and the significance of any errors made. This means that while they broadly correlate to the average of the race weekend marks, they consider other factors and therefore differ in some places.

No drivers are rated right at the bottom of the scale simply because the overall quality of performances is strong. But as you'd expect, there's a rough bell curve at work in the ratings with many clustering in the middle of the range.

Lewis Hamilton

Rating: 10

Championship position: 1st, 250 points
Best finish: 1st x8

It usually takes Hamilton a few race weekends to get on top of the car, but he entered his unstoppable phase even earlier this year than previously. Eight wins in 12 races reflects the supremacy of the Mercedes, but also his consistent excellence in getting the best out of it.

He's also outclassed a resurgent Valtteri Bottas with ease this year and shown he can absorb pressure when he needs to. While he sounded jittery on the radio during the Monaco Grand Prix, he still absorbed the pressure from Max Verstappen and kept his edge when the late dive came near the end of the race.

Hamilton continues to raise his own standards and has responded well to the growing threat of Verstappen, delivering a fine victory in Hungary to underline his dominance.

Valtteri Bottas

Rating: 7

Championship position: 2nd, 188 points
Best finish: 1st x2

There is so much that has been good about Bottas's season and he's done superbly to be only 0.088 seconds behind Hamilton on average in qualifying. But that hasn't always translated into the results that it should have.

Tyre management remains a weakness for Bottas, as does his edge in wheel-to-wheel combat. Those are the two areas where he really loses out to Hamilton and this means he's never entirely convinced as a genuine title challenger.

But considering how last year ended, this has been a more convincing campaign and has given him a fighting chance of staying in the Mercedes seat despite losing serious ground in the title race recently - notably due to his shunt at Hockenheim, a race where he had an open goal to capitalise on Hamilton's poor day.

Sebastian Vettel

Rating: 6

Championship position: 4th, 156 points
Best finish: 2nd x3

Vettel gave himself five out of 10 when asked about his performances before the break, which is perhaps harsh. But he has been erratic and he has emerged as the slower Ferrari driver in terms of outright pace in recent races - an average of 0.088s off in qualifying over the season.

The mistakes have also returned, notably in battle with Hamilton in Bahrain and Canada, and when he rear-ended Verstappen at Silverstone, suggesting he still hasn't found that old equilibrium at Ferrari.

But that old speed is still there, even if only in fits and starts, and it feels like it might just take one great weekend to get things back on an even keel. Right now, though, he's struggling in the battle to retain supremacy at Ferrari.

Charles Leclerc

Rating: 8

Championship position: 5th, 132 points
Best finish: 2nd

Leclerc would perhaps write 'must do better' on his own report card. Despite displaying the speed to eclipse Vettel, outperforming him consistently in the run up to the break, Leclerc is still not as rounded a performer.

The main concern is mistakes, with a crash in Q1 as recently as the Hungaroring fortunate not to prove more costly, along with his own self-diagnosed questions about tyre management compared to Vettel. But he should also have won at least one race by now, and the Bahrain loss was not his fault.

We always knew he came into this season on a steep learning curve, and overall he's done enough to prove that it's perhaps him, not Vettel, who is the future of Ferrari. That's why the weaknesses, provided they are eliminated soon, are forgivable.

Max Verstappen

Rating: 10

Championship position: 3rd, 181 points
Best finish: 1st x2

It's hard to find many negatives for Verstappen beyond being hyper-critical. Perhaps a few times he's left a little time on the table in qualifying, such as in France and Britain, but overall he's been consistently outstanding.

As well as his relentlessness, Verstappen has also proved he can turn around races that seemed doomed. In Austria, a dire start dropped him to eighth but he still fought his way through to victory.

He's also crushed Pierre Gasly, a consequence of his own consistently outstanding performances rather than spite on his part. Verstappen is the only driver who, right now, is at Hamilton's level or beyond.

Pierre Gasly

Rating: 4

Championship position: 6th, 63 points
Best finish: 4th

Gasly has not done himself justice this year on track, and Red Bull's willingness to reverse its desire to keep him in the car for the rest of the season suggests his attitude out of the cockpit hasn't convinced either.

Two shunts in pre-season testing dented his confidence and, since then, he's rarely looked comfortable. A little over half-a-second on average off Verstappen on Saturdays, he's too often found himself stranded in the midfield.

Silverstone and, to a lesser extent, Hockenheim offered a few mildly promising signs, but the Hungaroring was a disaster. He's not been able to adapt to the requirements of the car and, after a strong season last year, been found wanting at the top level. Released from his Red Bull hell, he must regroup at Toro Rosso and make the most of his underlying ability.

Daniel Ricciardo

Rating: 7

Championship position: 11th, 22 points
Best finish: 6th

This has been a defining, character-building year for Ricciardo, who initially seemed a little shell-shocked by the limitations of his Renault machinery before adapting well to its inadequacies. His pace from China onwards has been good, although there have been signs of frustration.

His decision to attempt to pass Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez around the outside of the final corner in Q1 at the Hungaroring might have been influenced by poor comunications from the team, but was a bad decision and left him starting down the order.

But when things have run smoothly, he's been his old self at circuits such as Monaco, Montreal and Silverstone. If anything, he's a measure of how far Renault really needs to go to improve and his rating perhaps reflects as much how difficult his situation has been as his performance level.

Nico Hulkenberg

Rating: 6

Championship position: 14th, 17 points
Best finish: 7th x2

Hulkenberg's position as Renault's team leader has been upset by Ricciardo's arrival, but after a series of qualifying defeats he's steadied the ship and had the upper hand on three of the last four weekends. On average, he's still almost a tenth down, though.

Hockenheim, where an off at the last corner followed by nosing into the barrier on the slick, sodden drag strip start on the runoff has become the defining moment of the first half of his season. But despite the fact Renault seems to be keen to make him a scapegoat, his performances have backed up Ricciardo effectively enough.

With question marks over his F1 future, Hulkenberg will be determined to reassert himself over Ricciardo in the second half of the year.

Romain Grosjean

Rating: 6

Championship position: 17th, 8 points
Best finish:7th

On average, Grosjean has been the slower of the Haas drivers in qualifying by half a tenth and has scored only eight points to Magnussen's 18. But since switching to the old-spec Haas, he has had the edge - and would have more points had he not lost a good result in Australia to a suspension problem.

As is often the case, Grosjean is clear of Magnussen when happy with the car but behind when unhappy with it and he continues to be a frustratingly erratic performer - with his involvement in clashes with Magnussen also maddening.

But Grosjean has brought one very important thing to the team, namely a route by which to understand its problems. He was behind the switch back to the Australian GP-spec Haas and that appears to be the key to Haas understanding its problems - all thanks to him having the courage of his convictions.

Kevin Magnussen

Rating: 6

Championship position: 13th, 18 points
Best finish: 6th

He's outperformed Grosjean by the key metrics but has also seemed to struggle more in the races where the Haas has really been all at sea. There are plenty of positives, and the car is certainly the primary problem here, but like Grosjean the inconsistencies in his performances and the inconsistency of the machinery are difficult to separate.

It's perhaps no coincidence that Magnussen's performances have suffered as Haas's car problems have set in, meaning he deserves the benefit of the doubt. But his involvement in the clashes with Grosjean are also a concern.

Judge Magnussen by the first part of the season and he's been a far more impressive performer, even though his peaks aren't generally quite as high as that of Grosjean.

Lando Norris

Rating: 8

Championship position: 10th, 24 points
Best finish: 6th x2

Norris has taken to F1 like a duck to water, finding the McLaren more to his liking than the car he raced in Formula 2. Quick from the off, he's actually had a slight edge over experienced team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr on Saturday afternoons.

On top of that, he's generally raced well. Twice - at Paul Ricard and the Hungaroring - he's lost out on points due to car problems outside of his control. He's also improved his consistency markedly as the season has progressed.

He's yet to show he's quite as consistent a race performer as Sainz, but that's a high bar and he's close enough to the de facto team leader to make this an impressive rookie season.

Carlos Sainz Jr

Rating: 9

Championship position: 7th, 58 points
Best finish: 5th x2

Perhaps not the faster McLaren driver over a single lap, Sainz is nonetheless the most polished performer with a string of outstanding race performances making him a permanent presence at the front of the midfield. He's running away with the unofficial 'Class B' championship.

The season started badly with misfortune in the first three races, but Sainz then hit his stride. His race drive in Monaco, where he passed both Toro Rosso drivers on the first lap, was a high point, with his twin fifth places before the break consolidated Mclaren's position at the front of the midfield.

After a difficult year in 2018, Sainz has gelled brilliantly with McLaren and been one of the year's outstanding performers.

Sergio Perez

Rating: 7

Championship position: 16th, 13 points
Best finish: 6th

He's not fond of the 'king of the midfield' moniker, but it's an apt one. The Racing Point package has been a limited one this year but Perez has usually extracted a decent amout of its potential.

The one exception is Germany, where he crashed early on and missed out a chance to deliver one of his speciality unexpected podiums. That means he lags behind team-mate Lance Stroll in the championship, but his exceptional run of race drives in Bahrain, China and Azerbaijan arguably stand as the team's strongest of the year.

There have been a few instances when he didn't get the best out of the car in qualifying and Stroll's inconclusive performances in the sister machine mean he lacks an ideal yardstick, but it has still been a decent campaign so far.

Lance Stroll

Rating: 5

Championship position: 12th, 18 points
Best finish: 4th

Stroll's effectiveness as a grand prix driver is undermined by his struggles to get the best out of the car in qualifying, which regularly led to him being eliminated in Q1 and with an average deficit of just over three tenths to Perez.

In the races, he's usually a stronger performer but too often up against it given his grid position. He also lost a podium at Hockenheim to a mistake that allowed Daniil Kvyat to get in range, which took the edge off an otherwise impressive fourth place.

He's had half a year to get used to his new team so now needs to up his game, and the ability is in there somewhere if he can extract it.

Kimi Raikkonen

Rating: 8

Championship position: 8th, 31 points
Best finish: 7th x3

A new verb "to Raikkonen" is required. It means to do things unobtrusively well and emerge with a strong result without doing anything overtly eyecatching. Raikkonen has Raikkonened brilliantly this season.

The 39-year-old has been Alfa Romeo's reliable lynchpin, never showing the startling pace we associate with his earlier F1 career but consistently delivering. That he's scored points in eight out of 12 races and scored 32 out of Alfa's haul of 33 says everything about his performance.

He's exactly what a team in the midfield needs and has been far more valuable to Alfa Romeo than he was to Ferrari previously.

Antonio Giovinazzi

Rating: 5

Championship position: 18th, 1 point
Best finish: 10th

On paper, Giovinazzi's season has been terrible with a single point for 10th in Austria, but on average his qualifying performances have been within a tenth of Raikkonen. He also lost eighth-on-the-road to Alfa Romeo's start penalty in Germany. So he's not slow.

But he has been race rusty after starting a grand total of three races in 2017-18 and has taken too long to shake this off. While Raikkonen is a difficult yardstick to measure himself against on Sundays, this has been where Giovinazzi has really suffered with early offs in two of the last three races symptomatic of his problems.

The raw materials are at least there for a stronger second half of the year and it's time to start stringing more weekends together.

Alex Albon

Rating: 7

Championship position: 15th, 16 points
Best finish: 6th

Albon's most impressive race performance this season came at Hockenheim, where he ran close to the sharp end throughout only to be jumped by team-mate Kvyat's slick-tyre gamble. It was a sign of how much he's matured as an F1 driver in just a few months.

He's also adapted his smooth default style to the more aggressive one required to get the best out of the Toro Rosso. And while there have been a few mistakes along the way, with practice crashes in Australia, China and Hungary, he's recovered from them well.

He's still undercooked as an F1 driver, but the first half of the year hints that he could have the pace and mental strength not to be chewed up and spat out by Verstappen.

Daniil Kvyat

Rating: 7

Championship position: 9th, 27 points
Best finish: 3rd

The 25-year-old has returned to F1 a more rounded individual and far more consistent performer. Even before his shock podium at Hockenheim, he'd justified the faith Red Bull put in him by bringing him back.

For much of the season he had the edge over Albon but in recent times that advantage has been eroded, meaning that on average they are now the most closely-matched pair of team-mates on the grid on Saturdays.

What has been most impressive is how Kvyat has responded to both success and failure this season in the same way to become a more dependable driver.

George Russell

Rating: 8

Championship position: 20th, 0 points
Best finish: 11th

One of only two drivers with a 100% record of qualifying supremacy over his team-mate, it's been difficult to rate Russell's performances given the lack of competition from outside the team. But it has been a classy season by any measure.

Consistently quick, Russell has always brought the car home and in Hungary almost achieved the seemingly-impossible by missing Q2 by under a tenth of a second. In trying circumstances, he's been about as impressive as it's possible to be. Now he needs to be tested in the thick of the midfield...

A breakthrough in tyre understanding at the Hungaroring means that Russell could take a step forward in the second half of the year.

Robert Kubica

Rating: 5

Championship position: 19th, 1 point
Best finish: 10th

Kubica's case is unique given he's returning after eight years out of an F1 race seat and having recovered from potentially devastating injuries that have required more than 40 surgeries. But he has to be judged against his rivals.

It has been a trying season during which he's failed to extract as much from the car as Russell has despite being the Williams driver to nick a point in Germany. On average he has lapped half-a-second off the sister car in qualifying.

There have been gripes about car problems and inconsistencies, and some of them might hold water, but overall there's been no sign of the extreme speed of the old Kubica.