2021 Portuguese Grand Prix F1 Driver Reviews | F1

This is how we rated every driver at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in F1 …

Each driver receives a rating of ten, with the rating heavily weighted on their performance on the day of the race. The qualification performance has less weight in the decision on the ratings

Lewis Hamilton (Qualified 2nd, 1st Place) – 10th

It was another great performance from Hamilton on race day at Portimao. The seven-time champion missed pole position many times over at the expense of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, but you always had the feeling that Hamilton would be the man to beat on race day. Hamilton’s afternoon got tougher after Verstappen moved up to second after a poor restart of the safety car. A rare mistake at the Dutchman’s exit from Turn 14 allowed Hamilton to return to second place when trying to chase Bottas, who was struggling with the media. After several laps behind Bottas, Hamilton made the entry into Turn 1 – the Finn covered the inside line and allowed Hamilton to sweep outwards with a fantastic overtaking maneuver. From then on, it was comfortable for Hamilton as he made the gap on Verstappen to claim his 97th career victory.

Max Verstappen (Qualified 3rd, 2nd Place) – 9th

Had it not been for a small moment at Turn 4 on his first lap in the third quarter, Verstappen would have taken pole at Portimao. Instead, Verstappen had to start third on the grid. The Dutchman made the most of Hamilton’s slow escape behind Bottas on the restart and moved up to second place. Red Bull’s lack of speed and inability to follow closely in the final sector meant he couldn’t challenge Bottas for the lead and eventually fell into the hands of Hamilton when he made a mistake on lap 14 on lap 10. Verstappen then got past Bottas when the Finn struggled with warming up the tires from the pits. Red Bull Pit Verstappen with two laps to go to secure the fastest lap. Verstappen appeared to have delivered, but his fastest lap was abandoned after it was discovered that he had exceeded the track restrictions at Turn 14.

Valtteri Bottas (Qualified 1st, 3rd Place) – 7th

Bottas seemed to have left the events of Imola behind as he secured 17th pole position of his career. Immediately after the start, Bottas struggled with the middle tires because he could not break the one-second window of Hamilton or Verstappen. Bottas was only able to withstand so many laps for Hamilton and his defense at Turn 1 was again very weak. The pace of the Finn was enough to leave Verstappen behind and ensure that Hamilton was not put under additional pressure by his main rival. Bottas’ problems with warming up the tires came to the surface when he stopped because of fresh hard tires and couldn’t hold Verstappen back. Bottas showed an impressive pace over the course of the tough stint and reduced the gap to the Red Bull to just 1.2 seconds before encountering a problem with the exhaust gas sensor that cost him more than five seconds.

Sergio Perez (Qualified 4th, 4th Place) – 7th

A solid, if unspectacular, portrayal of Perez in Portimao. He dropped behind Carlos Sainz’s fast-starting, soft-seated Ferrari. While he was managing to get back on track, the crucial moment came after the safety car restarted which allowed Norris to overtake, despite being illegal, when he crossed the track. The Mexican spent several laps behind the McLaren driver and lost over eight seconds to the leading trio as he progressed into Turn 1 on lap 15. After Perez had clean air, his pace was comparable to Hamilton, Verstappen and Bottas.

Lando Norris (Qualified 7th, 5th Place) – 9th

Norris continued his impressive start through 2021, when he finished in the top five for the third year in a row. He made up a slow start and passed Ocon spectacularly from the outside. Norris was only able to hold Perez back until lap 15 and relinquish the position in Turn 1 after initially overtaking by violating the track restrictions. Making sure he was the “best of the rest” of the midfield, Norris managed to beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to fifth on his high-grain center tires.

On the subject of matching items

Charles Leclerc (Qualified 8th, 6th Place) – 8th

It was a rare case of Leclerc underperforming in qualifying, who only finished eighth on the grid while teammate Carlos Sainz finished fifth. Starting from the middle tires, Leclerc had a significant strategic advantage over its midfield competitors. Leclerc stayed behind his teammate until the second stint, when he switched to hard tires. Ferrari’s team orders enabled Leclerc to secure sixth place for his teammate once the pit stops were made.

Esteban Ocon (Qualified 6th, 7th Place) – 8th

Ocon maximized Alpine’s performance in Portimao in qualifying with sixth on the grid and only missed fifth place by 0.003 seconds. Ocon dropped to eighth place after the safety car restarted and was then undercut by Gasly during the pit stop phase. The impressive pace on the Hards allowed him to again overtake Gasly and then Sainz, who was struggling with his medium tires.

Fernando Alonso (Qualified 13th, 8th Place) – 8th

The “gladiator of the old days” seemed to be back when Alonso put in a spectacular performance and finished eighth. The Spaniard had no explanation for his disappointing qualification but he made up for it on race day. A long 40-lap stint on the middle tire allowed him to switch to hardness, giving him a significant tire advantage over his main competitors. Alonso cut through the field and passed Pierre Gasly, Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz on the way to eighth place – just a second behind his teammate Ocon.

On the subject of matching items

Daniel Ricciardo (Qualified 16th, 9th Place) – 7th

A solid rebound for Ricciardo after a surprising early qualifying quarter one. He got off to a fantastic start and finished 11th after the safety car phase. Like Alonso, a long middle stay allowed him to move on to the hardships late. He didn’t quite have the pace of the Spaniard and was only able to pick up Gasly and Sainz before he was overtaken by the alpine driver. Lots of work for the Australian but a decent rest nonetheless.

Pierre Gasly (Qualified 9th, 10th Place) – 8th

Gasly made it into the third quarter for the third straight year, despite AlphaTauri not looking as competitive as it was in the previous two rounds. The Frenchman ran in the top ten for most of the race but didn’t have the pace to oppose Alonso and Ricciardo on their fresher rubber. Gasly secured the final point with a late pass to Sainz.

Carlos Sainz (Qualified 5th, 11th Place) – 7th

Sainz played the lead role in qualifying when he put his Ferrari on the grid in fifth, 0.3 seconds ahead of teammate Leclerc. He made the most of the soft tires at the start and moved up to fourth place ahead of Perez, but fought for speed from then on. The crucial moment in the race was on lap 21 when Ferrari stopped him because of media. Unexpectedly, the medium tire performed worse than expected and the hard tire Leclerc switched to was the better racing tire. Sainz struggled with tire grit and fell back to 11th place at the end of the race. If Ferrari had put him on the hard tire, he would have probably been in the top seven.

Antonio Giovinazzi (Qualified 12th, 12th Place) – 6th

Giovinazzi’s qualifying performance faltered as he was 0.6 seconds faster than Alfa Romeo’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in qualifying. A fairly anonymous race for the Italian as he finished mostly 12th, overtaking Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin to make sure he ended where he started.

Sebastian Vettel (qualified 10th, 13th place) – 6th

Vettel had his best qualifying since the UK Grand Prix last year as he advanced into the third quarter. The Aston Martin driver didn’t have the pace to finish in the top ten. He fell behind the recovering Alonso and Ricciardo before being overtaken by Giovinazzi. Vettel was ordered to switch to Stroll, but was later returned to the position as Stroll was unable to overtake Giovinazzi for 12th place.

Lance Stroll (Qualified 17th, 14th Place) – 5th

Stroll was unable to get the most out of the improved Aston Martin, as he had abandoned qualifying at the first hurdle in the first quarter. The Canadian rose when he started with the soft tires. A massive 39-lap stint on the softs was impressive but unsuccessful as Aston simply didn’t have the racing pace of McLaren or Alpine. After he could not overtake Giovinazzi, he gave the position to team-mate Vettel.

Yuki Tsunoda (Qualified 14th, 15th Place) – 5th

A clean, if disappointing, weekend for Tsunoda. It’s hard to be too tough on a track he has never raced before. The Japanese rookie never had the pace of his teammate Gasly in qualifying or on race day. The highlight of his race was an overtaking of Williams’ George Russell at Turn 5.

George Russell (Qualified 11th, 16th Place) – 7th

‘Mr Saturday’ impressed again in qualifying when he missed the third quarter by less than a tenth. Williams just wasn’t up to speed on race day when Russell struggled with windy conditions and dropped from 11th to 15th in the opening stages of the race.

Mick Schumacher (qualified 19th, 17th place) – 7th

Schumacher was once again clear in qualifying ahead of Haas team-mate Nikita Mazepin – 0.5 seconds behind the two. The German had a flawless, flawless race on the way to 17th. Schumacher made it past Nicholas Latifi late with an optimistic step in Turn 3 when the Canadian locked up and went far.

Nicholas Latifi (Qualified 18th, 18th Place) – 4th

Latifi never had the pace he showed the last time at Imola, nor was it a match for teammate Russell. The Canadian spent most of the race keeping Schumacher in check before handing over the position to the Haas rider, who ran far at Turn 3.

Nikita Mazepin (Qualified 20th, 19th Place) – 3rd

Mazepin was half a second behind his teammate Schumacher in qualifying and finished the race over a minute later. The Russian seems to be more cautious after his tricky first two races in F1. Mazepin was given a five-second penalty and one penalty point for getting in Perez’s way while being lapped.

Kimi Raikkonen (Qualified 15th, DNF) – 1st

Raikkonen made it into the second quarter but a bad lap meant he was over 0.6 seconds slower than Giovinazzi. An embarrassing mistake at the beginning of the second lap ended his race prematurely and hit his team-mate on the start-finish straight. The 2007 world champion lived up to his mistake. Overall, it was a weekend Kimi should forget.