2024 Chinese Grand Prix weekend F1 driver ratings

The first sprint round of the season only added more pressure onto drivers as they returned to a circuit they had not raced at for five years.

With rain interrupting Friday’s sprint qualifying session, a low-grip track surface and multiple Safety Car interruptions during the grand prix itself, there was no simple day across the three during the race weekend.

That might have reflected in how none of the 20 drivers had a completely clean weekend where everything went perfectly. But that does not mean there were no eye-catching performances throughout the field.

Here are the RaceFans driver ratings for the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.

Max Verstappen – 7/10

Sprint race start: 4th
Sprint race finish: Winner
Qualified: Pole (+1 place ahead of team mate, -0.322s)
Start: Held position
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-H)
Finished: Winner (+2 places ahead of team mate)
▶ Qualified only fourth for sprint grid after rain fell in SQ3
▲ Bided his time before methodically passing Alonso and Hamilton to win sprint race easily
▲ Secured pole position by three tenths in qualifying
▲ Led from pole and retained lead through two Safety Car restarts
▲ Took fourth win of season by 13 seconds from Norris

Another sprint weekend, another double victory for Verstappen. Once again in 2024, he was in a class of his own in race conditions and never looked close to being threatened for the top spot on Saturday or Sunday. However, it is clear that the Red Bull remains the best car in the field and the fact he was beaten to sprint race pole on Friday suggests he did not quite manage to fully maximise everything in every session compared to man

Sergio Perez – 6/10

Sprint race start: 6th
Sprint race finish: 3rd
Qualified: 2nd (-1 place behind team mate, +0.322s)
Start: -1 place
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-H)
Finished: 3rd (-2 places behind team mate)
▶ Only able to secure sixth in sprint qualifying, two places behind team mate
▲ Pulled off great double-pass on Alonso and Sainz to finish sprint in third
▶ Secured front row start for grand prix in qualifying, but three tenths behind team mate
▶ Lost a place to Alonso at the start but claimed it back soon after
▶ Dropped to fourth pitting under Safety Car but passed Leclerc to finish third

Perez appears to have fallen into a pattern in 2024 so far. He does not make any major mistakes or poor decisions like he did so often in 2023, but he also is simply unable to match the performance of his world champion team mate. Much was the same in China, where Red Bull could again be satisfied with his weekend. It was not his fault he lost out to Norris and Leclerc in the pits behind the Safety Car, but he once he had passed the Ferrari he had no tyre performance left to challenge Norris. But at least he knows that he had misfortune to blame for missing out on second place.

Lewis Hamilton – 5/10

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Sprint race start: 2nd
Sprint race finish: 2nd
Qualified: 18th (-10 places behind team mate, +0.489s)
Start: -1 place
Strategy: Two-stop (S-M-H)
Finished: 9th (-3 places behind team mate)
▲ Secured front-row start for sprint race in second
▲ Led early laps of sprint passing Norris but lost lead to Verstappen to finish second
▼ Eliminated from Q1 after making major set-up changes
▶ Struggled for pace on soft tyres in opening stint but restarted 11th after Safety Car
▶ Passed Hulkenberg but overtaken by Alonso to finish ninth

Whatever Hamilton changed on his car between the sprint race and the grand prix, you can be sure he regrets it. The multiple world champion looked stronger than he has been for a long while over Friday and the first part of Saturday, but then it all seemed to disappear into the two grand prix sessions. But it was obvious that it was because the major change in set-up direction – which he admitted to requesting of his team – robbed his car of much of the performance it had previously had. While he clearly should be held responsible for it, at least he was able to salvage a couple of points from the grand prix.

George Russell – 6/10

Sprint race start: 11th
Sprint race finish: 8th
Qualified: 8th (+10 places ahead of team mate, -0.489s)
Start: +2 places
Strategy: Two-stop (M-M-H)
Finished: 6th (+3 places ahead of team mate)
▼ Failed to follow team mate into SQ3 after losing tyre temperature to start sprint 11th
▶ Used softs and gained three places in sprint to score final point in eighth
▶ Secured eighth on grand prix grid in qualifying
▲ Passed both Ferraris on the opening lap to run sixth
▶ Restarted seventh after Safety Car and picked up sixth when Alonso pitted
▲ Kept out of reach of Alonso in closing laps to finish seventh

With plenty happening at the front of the field as well as towards the rear, it was very easy to overlook Russell across the weekend – perhaps the one driver who featured least on the world feed broadcast. That does not mean that he had a bad weekend by any means – it was perhaps a reflection of Mercedes’ true performance in Racing conditions that he was out of the top five. But he beat his team mate over the most important two sessions of the weekend and beat a McLaren and an Aston Martin, which was probably to his credit.

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Charles Leclerc – 6/10

Sprint race start: 7th
Sprint race finish: 4th
Qualified: 6th (+1 place ahead of team mate, -0.008s)
Start: -1 place
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 4th (+1 place ahead of team mate)
▼ Spun into barrier on out-lap in SQ3 before qualifying seventh
▲ Rose three places in sprint race to finish ahead of team mate despite contact with him
▶ Secured sixth on the grid in grand prix qualifying ahead of team mate
▶ Passed by Russell and Hulkenberg on opening lap but overtook both and Piastri in early laps
▶ Pitted under Safety Car for hard tyres and restarted third, passed by Perez to finish fourth

Leclerc may have had better weekend performances in 2024 than he had in China, but he could be pleased with his work in Shanghai even if the Ferrari was not as potent a car as it has been in other rounds in 2024. The weakest point was clearly Friday, where he did not seem most comfortable when the rain came, but it felt like his form picked up as the weekend progressed. Although he was the first to admit that he was “not completely satisfied with our result as a team”, he could at least take heart that he out-raced his team mate.

Carlos Sainz Jnr – 5/10

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Sprint race start: 5th
Sprint race finish: 5th
Qualified: 7th (-1 place behind team mate, +0.008s)
Start: -2 places
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 5th (-1 place behind team mate)
▶ Out-qualified team mate in wet to line up fifth on sprint grid
▶ Finished fifth in sprint despite touching team mate and damage from Alonso clash
▼ Crashed in Q2 but recovered thanks to red flag to qualify seventh for grand prix
▼ Dropped two places at the start but re-passed Hulkenberg on lap two
▶ Restarted in sixth after Safety Car and couldn’t quite match team mate ahead, finishing fifth

Over a weekend where Sainz was fifth in three of the four competitive sessions of the Chinese Grand Prix, he gets another five here. Other than the wet sprint qualifying on Friday, Sainz’s team mate seemed to have a slight edge on him over the rest of the weekend. He was probably lucky not to be investigated for forcing Leclerc off track at the hairpin. His race performance was perfectly alright, but not the best he’s had in this early season so far and was somewhat flattered by Aston Martin’s strategy to have finished ahead of Alonso.

Lando Norris – 7/10

Sprint race start: Pole
Sprint race finish: 6th
Qualified: 4th (+1 place ahead of team mate, -0.108s)
Start: Held position
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 2nd (+6 places ahead of team mate)
▲ Secured pole for second straight sprint qualifying session in rain
▶ Lost sprint race lead to Hamilton and fell several places running wide at turn one to finish sixth
▶ Secured second-row start for grand prix ahead of team mate and Ferraris
▲ Passed Alonso in early laps and pitted under Safety Car to restart second
▲ Showed strong pace on hards to elude Perez and secure best finish of 2024 in second

Another formidable three-day showing from Norris, another podium finish, still no win. When the rain came in sprint qualifying, Norris adapted to the conditions better than anyone. He probably should have out-qualified Alonso in the grand prix qualifying session and he was fortunate to get ahead of Perez under the Safety Car, but his pace in the later part of the race was solid. Norris cannot score higher than a ‘7’ due to his misjudgement at the start of the sprint when he perhaps should have played it safer and because McLaren were probably quicker than Ferrari around Shanghai, but holding off a Red Bull is a pretty good effort.

Oscar Piastri – 5/10

Sprint race start: 8th
Sprint race finish: 7th
Qualified: 5th (-1 place behind team mate, +0.108s)
Start: Held position
Strategy: Two-stop (M-M-H)
Finished: 8th (-6 places behind team mate)
▶ Qualified eighth for sprint but lost a second on final lap after suddenly falling into neutral
▶ Gained one place in sprint to finish eighth after Alonso’s retirement
▶ Secured a top five grid position for the grand prix in Saturday’s qualifying
▶ Passed by Leclerc early on before pitting late under Safety Car and dropping to eighth
▶ Suffered damage when hit by Ricciardo under Safety Car
▶ Overtaken by Alonso late to finish in eighth

Piastri has certainly had worse weekends than he had in China, but he’s also had much better ones too. He was demonstrably not on the level of his team mate across the weekend. While he should have started higher on the sprint race grid, he still would’ve been two seconds off Norris without his odd gearbox glitch in SQ3. He suffered minor damage under Safety Car and brought the car home solidly in the points, but he shouldn’t be satisfied with six points from his weekend when Norris scored 21.

Fernando Alonso – 7/10

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Sprint race start: 3rd
Sprint race finish: Retired (Damage)
Qualified: 3rd (+8 places ahead of team mate, -0.186s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: Three-stop (M-H-S-M)
Finished: 7th (+8 places ahead of team mate)
▲ Secured top three grid position in sprint qualifying
▼ Retired from sprint race after clash with Sainz, hit with 10s penalty
▲ Fastest qualifier behind Red Bulls to start grand prix in third
▲ Overtook Perez for second at start before falling behind Perez and Norris
▶ Restarted fifth on softs before pitting for mediums late
▲ Passed Albon, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Hamilton and Piastri to finish 7th despite almost crashing

The two Aston Martins could hardly have had more contrasting fortunes in China, and Alonso was the one who enjoyed by far the better weekend once again. He made third on the grid his for the two races and had good starts in both of them. Although he slipped down to seventh by the finish of the grand prix, that was more a reflection on his car than his own driving – even if he almost threw it all away at turn 16. The only real negative was his unwise lunge on Sainz into turn nine in the sprint race, which he probably deserved a penalty for – though perhaps not three superlicence penalty points.

Lance Stroll – 3/10

Sprint race start: 15th
Sprint race finish: 14th
Qualified: 11th (-8 places behind team mate, +0.186s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: Four-stop (S-M-H-M-H)
Finished: 15th (-8 places behind team mate)
▲ Fastest of all in practice
▼ Failed to follow team mate into SQ3 after rain fell
▼ Gained only one place in sprint race after team mate retired
▼ Unable to secure top ten start, eliminated from Q2 in 11th
▲ Passed Hulkenberg on second lap and inside top ten until SC
▼ Hit Ricciardo under SC, damaging car and earning 10s penalty
▶ Ran at the back before passing Sargeant late to finish 16th but promoted to 15th

Another weekend where Stroll’s abilities and awareness were brought into question. Yet again it looked like Stroll was not driving the same car as his team mate Alonso, who ran within range of the lead in the early laps of both the weekends’ races while Stroll languished outside the points. Not only that, Stroll picked up a penalty for running into a rival behind the Safety Car. While it is true the accordion effect at the hairpin could have caught anyone out, the fact remains only Stroll managed to whack that hard into the car ahead. Another poor performance all around.

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Pierre Gasly – 6/10

Sprint race start: 16th
Sprint race finish: 15th
Qualified: 15th (-2 places behind team mate, +0.24s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: Three-stop (M-H-H-M)
Finished: 13th (-2 places behind team mate)
▶ Ran without floor upgrade provided to team mate
▲ Out-qualified team mate in sprint qualifying
▶ Finished 15th in sprint race, less than second behind team mate
▶ Fell to the rear of grand prix after botched pit stop cost him around 16 seconds
▲ Pitted late for mediums and passed Sargeant and Magnussen to finish 13th

This was perhaps Gasly’s strongest showing of the season so far as he backed up his team mate across the weekend even without the benefit of the upgraded floor on his car. He was unlucky that his first pit stop went so horribly wrong, but when he was given an opportunity to rejoin the pack under the Safety Car, he did so. He overtook four rivals after the restart across two stints to finish six seconds behind his team mate – a performance he should be happy with.

Esteban Ocon – 6/10

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Sprint race start: 17th
Sprint race finish: 13th
Qualified: 13th (+2 places ahead of team mate, -0.24s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-H)
Finished: 11th (+2 places ahead of team mate)
▶ Received team’s only floor upgrade for weekend
▶ Eliminated from SQ1 in 17th, just behind team mate
▲ Gained four places in sprint race to finish just ahead of team mate in 13th
▲ Reached Q2 to secure 13th on grand prix grid
▶ Ran ahead of team mate all race to finish under two seconds from a point in 11th

Ocon has been putting in strong performances across the season so far despite the lack of speed of his car and he produced another solid weekend in China to just miss his first point of the season. He was naturally helped by having an upgraded floor for the weekend as well as some of their rivals struggling more than them, but being out-qualified by his team mate in SQ1 was perhaps the only point of criticism of his three days in the car.

Alexander Albon – 6/10

Sprint race start: 18th
Sprint race finish: 17th
Qualified: 14th (+6 places ahead of team mate, -0.974s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-H)
Finished: 12th (+5 places ahead of team mate)
▶ Knocked out of SQ1 in 18th but ahead of team mate
▶ Picked up one place in sprint, passing ailing Hulkenberg
▲ Reached Q2 to line up 14th on grand prix grid
▶ Ran 13th in early laps but undercut by Tsunoda in first pit cycle
▶ Gained a place when Ricciardo retired after restart, unable to catch Ocon to finish 12th

Williams were not strong around Shanghai but Albon still put in a solid performance across the weekend to finish two places and five seconds from a potential first point of the season. Alpine were likely quicker than Williams over the weekend and splitting them was a decent enough result. But he’s also had more outstanding drives with underwhelming cars in his history.

Logan Sargeant – 4/10

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Sprint race start: 20th
Sprint race finish: 18th
Qualified: 20th (-6 places behind team mate, +0.974s)
Start: Held position
Strategy: Two-stop (S-M-H)
Finished: 17th (-5 places behind team mate)
▶ Qualified slowest for sprint race but just a tenth behind team mate
▶ Finished three seconds behind team mate in sprint
▼ Eliminated slowest in Q1 after spinning at tarmac change into turn eight
▶ Started from pit lane after changing wing spec under parc ferme
▶ Ran pace similar to team mate until final stint on hards
▼ Hit with 10s penalty for Safety Car infringement passing Hulkenberg
▼ Finished last, classified 30s behind team mate

On the face of it, Sargeant was the weakest driver in the field in Shanghai. However, this weekend his performance was tainted by Williams potentially having the slowest car of the 10. That said, he made another mistake in a qualifying session which will further harm his case to stay on the grid in the future and was not on the level of his team mate on the hard tyres. Although he was penalised by the stewards for passing Hulkenberg under the Safety Car, his team deserve the majority of the blame for failing to inform him of the correct running order, and this his not been factored into his rating.

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Yuki Tsunoda – 4/10

Sprint race start: 19th
Sprint race finish: 16th
Qualified: 19th (-7 places behind team mate, +0.303s)
Start: +3 places
Strategy: Two-stop (S-M-H)
Finished: Retired (-1 place behind team mate)
▼ Knocked out of SQ1 in 19th after struggling with balance on Friday
▶ Picked up three places in sprint race to finish 16th
▼ Failed to follow team mate into Q2, baffled by being eliminated 19th again
▲ Gained several places at the start
▶ Retired after being hit by Magnussen at turn six at the Safety Car restart

For most of the 2024 season so far, Tsunoda has been the outstanding driver at Red Bull’s second team. But in China, he was anything but. He never looked comfortably and was unable to match the pace of his team mate, especially in qualifying. He at least looked stronger on Sunday than the rest of the weekend, but his race ended through little fault of his own. Still, he was unusually underwhelming across the weekend.

Daniel Ricciardo – 6/10

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Sprint race start: 14th
Sprint race finish: 11th
Qualified: 12th (+7 places ahead of team mate, -0.303s)
Start: -3 places
Strategy: One-stop (M-M)
Finished: Retired (Damage – L33)
▶ Given new chassis by team for weekend
▶ Reached SQ2, unlike team mate, to start sprint 14th
▲ Gained three places in sprint to finish 11th
▶ Secured 12th on the grand prix grid in qualifying
▼ Dropped three places on opening lap of grand prix
▶ Retired after being hit by Stroll under Safety Car
▼ Hit with 3-place grid drop for Miami for passing Hulkenberg under SC

Ricciardo was not his typical effervescent self following the Chinese Grand Prix, and with good reason. With a new chassis, he was as quick and confident over the weekend as he has been at any point throughout 2024 so far and was comfortably the stronger of the two RB drivers. Being eliminated from the race by Stroll was bad enough, but his penalty for Miami just leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Valtteri Bottas – 7/10

Sprint race start: 9th
Sprint race finish: 12th
Qualified: 10th (+6 places ahead of team mate, -0.336s)
Start: -1 place
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: Retired (Power unit – L20)
▲ Reached SQ3 and out-qualified team mate to start ninth for sprint
▶ Finished 12th in sprint after front wing damage from clash with team mate at start
▲ Took tenth on the grand prix grid after running top ten in every phase
▶ Lost a place to Stroll at the start but passed Hulkenberg for tenth
▶ Ran behind Hulkenberg in 11th after stop before power unit failure ended race

Bottas deserved to have had the opportunity to fight for that final point in tenth place in the Chinese Grand Prix. He was consistently strong across the weekend and was Hulkenberg’s biggest threat for that tenth position until his car let him down suddenly just before half distance. Even though he dropped back in the sprint, he could blame front wing damage from contact with his team mate. A performance that was deserving of more.

Zhou Guanyu – 5/10

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Sprint race start: 10th
Sprint race finish: 9th
Qualified: 16th (-6 places behind team mate, +0.336s)
Start: -1 place
Strategy: Three-stop (M-H-H-S)
Finished: 14th (+6 places ahead of team mate)
▲ Reached SQ3 to secure tenth on sprint grid
▲ Scored a top ten finish in sprint race despite L1 contact with team mate
▼ Eliminated from Q1 after lock up at hairpin on final push lap
▼ Dropped down the order early in grand prix before pitting late for softs
▶ Used fresh tyres to pass Sargeant and Magnussen, finishing 14th, 3s behind Gasly

Whatever direction Zhou’s grand prix future will take, he will never forget this race weekend for as long as he lives. It’s a shame for him that his Saturday and Sunday results could not have been reversed as a solid ninth place in the grand prix would have been the first points for his team. However, he did not seem as strong after the sprint race and while he gained two places from his starting position, that was largely down to his team mate and the two RBs being forced out of the running.

Nico Hulkenberg – 7/10

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Sprint race start: 13th
Sprint race finish: 19th
Qualified: 9th (+8 places ahead of team mate, -0.448s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-H)
Finished: 10th (+6 places ahead of team mate)
▶ Near-identical time to team mate in sprint qualifying to line up 13th for sprint race
▼ Dropped six places in sprint race with severe tyre degradation
▲ Reached Q3 to secure ninth on grand prix grid
▼ Reprimanded for passing cars in fast lane of pit lane
▲ Passed both Ferraris at start but overtaken by Sainz
▲ Showed strong race pace throughout race to hold onto final point in tenth

Hulkenberg was one of the more outstanding performers from the weekend, taking the final point available as Stroll’s mishaps left tenth place open for someone to capitalise. Not for the first time, Hulkenberg was the one who did just that. He drove what he described as one of the cleanest races of his career to finish tenth and take his third points finish in four rounds. But as he couldn’t explain his plummet down the order in the sprint race, he cannot receive a higher grade for it.

Kevin Magnussen – 4/10

Sprint race start: 12th
Sprint race finish: 10th
Qualified: 17th (-8 places behind team mate, +0.448s)
Start: -1 place
Strategy: Two-stop (H-H-M)
Finished: 16th (-6 places behind team mate)
▶ Reached SQ2 to qualify 12th for sprint race
▲ Gained two places in sprint race to finish inside top ten
▶ Knocked out of Q1, but compromised slightly on final lap by Sargeant spin
▼ Handed 10s penalty and 2 penalty points for hitting Tsunoda, suffering puncture
▼ Finished 15th on road but demoted to 16th after penalty

Magnussen has been quietly putting in performances that have probably been stronger than they seemed on paper over the opening phase of 2024. China was not one of them, however. Up to the grand prix, he had done a perfectly respectable job, all considered, even if he did not seem to match the maximum pace that his team mate was able to show. But he made himself look silly with his hapless move that took out Tsunoda and deserved his penalty.

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