Category: Five Star Drivers

Canadian Grand Prix 2024- Five Star Drivers

Jun 14th, 2024
1. Max Verstappen-
Along with Imola, this race has to go down as one of Verstappen’s greatest victories. In the trickiest of conditions, no driver was perfect, but Verstappen made the least mistakes, in a car that seldom appeared the fastest.

2. George Russell-

George may have made a few mistakes throughout the race, but it was still a fabulous performance. In a track that his teammate has often excelled at, George once again proved that he is currently the fastest and most reliable Mercedes driver, to duly deliver his team their first podium of the year.

3. Alexander Albon-

Whilst a late spin from Sainz took Albon out of the race, he reminded everyone the fighter he is with his performance throughout the race. In particular, his double overtake on Ricciardo and Ocon, where he slipped through the tiniest gap in the middle of the two cars, was sublime.

4. Daniel Ricciardo-

After justified criticism from Jacques Villeneuve, Daniel decided to show up this week, qualifying in fifth and finishing the race in eighth, despite a jump start penalty. It was a solid performance and if Daniel can keep these up, he will justify why he should stay in Formula One.

5. Alpine-

I’m breaking my rules again and giving half a point to each of the Alpine drivers. Esteban Ocon drove from the back of the grid into the points, which is always worth a shout out and Pierre Gasly also delivered a points finish. Despite a post-race controversy about a controversial driver swap at the end of the race, both drivers showed their talents still shine through in a bad car.

Tally:
1. Max Verstappen- 6
2. Yuki Tsunoda- 5
3. Lando Norris- 4
4. Carlos Sainz- 3
5. Charles Leclerc- 3
6. Oscar Piastri- 3
7. Nico Hulkenberg- 2.5
8. Kevin Magnussen- 2.5
9. Esteban Ocon- 2.5
10. Sergio Perez- 2
11. Lance Stroll- 2
12. George Russell- 2
13. Alexander Albon- 2
14. Pierre Gasly- 1.5
15. Fernando Alonso- 1
16. Oliver Bearman- 1
17. Zhou Guanyu- 1
18. Daniel Ricciardo- 1
Monaco Grand Prix 2024- Five Star Drivers

May 28th, 2024
1. Charles Leclerc-
The Monaco curse was broken, Charles Leclerc won at home. Nearly two years after his last win, it was so satisfying to see Charles nail qualifying and then convert that into a decisive victory. Whilst the race may have been boring, the result made me and Charles legion of adoring fans ecstatic.

2. Oscar Piastri-

Something in the back of my head told me that Oscar was going to outperform Lando this weekend. And whilst he barely missed out on the pole, he still qualified 2^nd and converted it into his first podium of the season. Whilst he’s not yet the complete package and needs to work on his tyre management, Oscar is a massive talent and I imagine it will not be too long for his first win.

3. Yuki Tsunoda-

Yuki is quickly becoming one of the most impressive performers in the sport. He should not be defined by his first year, look at his performances now. He once again maximized his weekend, qualifying and finishing in 8^th to take another four points for the RB team. If Daniel Ricciardo had delivered the performances that Yuki has delivered this year, he would have already been signed to Red Bull. Yuki has done everything to prove his talent, it’s up to Red Bull to recognize it.

4. Alexander Albon-

Whilst one of my favourite drivers was busy winning, my other was busy getting his team’s first points of the season. Whilst Williams have had a poor car this year, Alex’s talents have not disappeared over the winter. He reminded us of that this week and I was happy to see Williams get some points on the board.

5. Pierre Gasly-

On the first weekend where his car showed any pace and despite his teammate divebombing him, Pierre survived and delivered a second point for the Alpine team. Whilst not the best performer in the team overall, his willingness to be a team player is appealing to the Alpine higher ups.

Tally:
1. Max Verstappen- 5
2. Yuki Tsunoda- 5
3. Lando Norris- 4
4. Carlos Sainz- 3
5. Charles Leclerc- 3
6. Oscar Piastri- 3
7. Nico Hulkenberg- 2.5
8. Kevin Magnussen- 2.5
9. Sergio Perez- 2
10. Esteban Ocon- 2
11. Lance Stroll- 2
12. George Russell- 1
13. Fernando Alonso- 1
14. Oliver Bearman- 1
15. Zhou Guanyu- 1
16. Alexander Albon- 1
17. Pierre Gasly- 1
Imola Grand Prix 2024- Five Star Drivers

May 20th, 2024
1. Max Verstappen-
This may be one of Max Verstappen’s greatest wins. In a weekend in which he did not have the fastest car, he made the difference, through a sublime qualifying lap and held on despite massive pressure from Norris towards the end of the race to take his 59^th win.

2. Lando Norris-

Whilst slightly underperforming in qualifying, Lando made up for it with superb tyre management throughout the race. To only finish 0.7 seconds towards Verstappen, a sight we’ve barely seen during the last couple of years, shows that his win in Miami was not a one-off, but a sign of a McLaren resurgence.

3. Yuki Tsunoda-

Yuki continues to impress this year. Once again outqualifying Ricciardo, at times this weekend he looked like challenging the top teams. Whilst the overall race pace of the RB has yet to escape the midfield, Yuki still held on to score a valuable point at home. With every impressive performance, it is really starting to seem like he may actually get that Red Bull seat one day.

4. Lance Stroll-

Stroll had a quietly impressive performance this weekend. On a track that was difficult to overtake on and a weekend where his teammate was nowhere, Stroll improved from his starting position to drag his underperforming Aston Martin into the points. Whilst I’m not the biggest Lance Stroll fan, I have to give credit where it’s due.

5. Kevin Magnussen-

Kevin’s performance is going to go under looked this weekend. He was comprehensively outqualified by his teammate, yet was making move after move in a track that is difficult to overtake on, to recover to twelfth, only a few seconds behind the sister car. In a better car, he delivered a points worthy performance.

Tally:
1. Max Verstappen- 5
2. Lando Norris- 4
3. Yuki Tsunoda- 4
4. Carlos Sainz- 3
5. Nico Hulkenberg- 2.5
6. Kevin Magnussen- 2.5
7. Sergio Perez- 2
8. Charles Leclerc- 2
9. Oscar Piastri- 2
10. Esteban Ocon- 2
11. Lance Stroll- 2
12. George Russell- 1
13. Fernando Alonso- 1
14. Oliver Bearman- 1
15. Zhou Guanyu- 1
Miami Grand Prix 2024- Five Star Drivers

May 14th, 2024
1. Lando Norris-
Fantastic pace in the upgraded McLaren, combined with a well-timed safety car, earned Lando Norris his long-deserved first win. He managed the race perfectly and whilst some may argue that he got lucky, Lando wouldn’t be the first F1 driver to take his first win with the help of luck and doubtless he will achieve many more wins.

2. Oscar Piastri-

Oscar showed great race craft and pace through the first half of the race, even without all of the upgrades that Lando received, to be running second for a long time. His pace comparable to Verstappen was solid and whilst an unlucky collision with Sainz lost Oscar his chance of points, he showed off his potential this weekend.

3. Yuki Tsunoda-

Whilst more headlines were focused on Ricciardo’s fantastic fourth place in the sprint, it was Yuki who delivered during the race itself. Managing to comprehensively outpace George Russell in a theoretically slower car in the final stint, Yuki took a well-deserved seventh place and continues to cement his place as one of F1’s most consistent performers.

4. Esteban Ocon-

Like in China, Ocon had a fantastic performance in Miami, this time earning him (and Alpine) their first points of the season. Alpine look to be slowly moving up the grid as this season progresses and this week they seemed clearly ahead of Sauber and Williams, hinting that their long-term plan is starting to pay off.

5. Kevin Magnussen-

I never defined what a ‘star-driver’ was. For most, Kevin Magnussen caused absolute chaos in Miami, fighting beyond the limit in the sprint and causing a collision in the race. From my perspective however, Kevin was responsible for all of the entertainment this weekend. Without him, we would have had a boring sprint and may not have received a new winner. So Kevin is quickly becoming my problematic fave, hence his inclusion.

Tally:
1. Max Verstappen- 4
2. Carlos Sainz- 3
3. Lando Norris- 3
4. Yuki Tsunoda- 3
5. Nico Hulkenberg- 2.5
6. Sergio Perez- 2
7. Charles Leclerc- 2
8. Oscar Piastri- 2
9. Esteban Ocon- 2
10. Kevin Magnussen- 1.5
11. George Russell- 1
12. Fernando Alonso- 1
13. Lance Stroll- 1
14. Oliver Bearman- 1
15. Zhou Guanyu- 1
Chinese Grand Prix 2024- Five Star Drivers

Apr 21st, 2024
1. Max Verstappen-
Max was dominant this weekend, easily having the pace over all the other cars. Surviving two safety car restarts with no trouble, Verstappen drove one of his classic, relaxing Sunday afternoon drives. The dominance of Red Bull this weekend was scary, these Ferrari upgrades cannot come soon enough.

2. Lando Norris-

Whilst bottling the chance to win the Saturday Sprint, Lando was the MVP this weekend. His pace in the wet qualifying was scarily good and ensured that Perez was out paced, out strategized, and out raced. The driver of the day award was well deserved.

3. Fernando Alonso-

Fernando had an amazing couple of qualifying sessions, ending up third. He then ran second throughout the early portion of the race. Whilst dropping down due to a car lacking race pace and bad strategy, Fernando recovered through the field with a series of varied and decisive overtakes, finishing seventh and taking the fastest lap to boot.

4. Nico Hulkenberg-

Hulkenberg continued his strong start to the season to secure yet another point for Haas. Nico qualified in the top ten and made no major errors to finish in the best possible position for his car. Haas have been the big surprise of the season and are beginning to look like rockstars.

5. Esteban Ocon-

Ocon has performed well during the season, dragging that tractor into positions it has no right being in. This week, that position was eleventh, just outside of the points. Whilst seldom on screen, I noticed Ocon making moves on the timing screen. How he did so in that car is anyone’s guess, but it deserves a shout out.

Tally:
1. Max Verstappen- 4
2. Carlos Sainz- 3
3. Nico Hulkenberg- 2.5
4. Sergio Perez- 2
5. Charles Leclerc- 2
6. Lando Norris- 2
7. Yuki Tsunoda- 2
8. Oscar Piastri- 1
9. George Russell- 1
10. Fernando Alonso- 1
11. Lance Stroll- 1
12. Oliver Bearman- 1
13. Zhou Guanyu- 1
14. Esteban Ocon- 1
15. Kevin Magnussen- 0.5
Japanese Grand Prix 2024- Five Star Drivers

Apr 12th, 2024
1. Max Verstappen-
Once again, Max dominated. He drove away from the field and had a pace advantage over everyone else. There’s little else to say, his performance was next to perfect, as it is every weekend.

2. Sergio Perez-

Whilst his teammate still dominated, Sergio Perez also had a fantastic weekend. On a track he has struggled at in the past, he nearly matched Max in qualifying. Whilst missing his chances to pass Max at the start and win the race, Sergio still delivered fantastic pace and audacious overtakes to ensure that Red Bull achieved their third 1-2 of the season.

3. Carlos Sainz-

Carlos once again proved the stronger Ferrari driver over the weekend. He maximized his good starting position to continue his 100% podium rate this season.[1] People are already starting to question why Ferrari made the call to replace Carlos, he is clearly one of the best drivers in F1. After spending years being underrated, it appears that F1 fans, teams and casual spectators are waking up to this fact. Ferrari currently have the best line-up in F1, let’s hope they don’t lose it.

4. Charles Leclerc-

Whilst not having the best qualifying performance, Charles more than made up for it in the race. Charles and Ferrari executed a fantastic one-stop strategy that no other driver could make work. Charles’ ability to post consistent lap times with minimal degradation (even compared to his own teammate) show that he is maximizing that Ferrari in the races. Once he has improved his qualifying, Charles could be unstoppable this season.

5. Yuki Tsunoda-

Last, but definitely not least, is the home hero Yuki Tsunoda. He was able to beat his teammate in qualifying, run a sublime strategy in the race and finish in front of an Aston Martin to get the last point on the table. His attitude is amazing, he puts the team before himself and combined with Perez’s strong performances, he has guaranteed that Daniel Ricciardo will never drive a Red Bull again. Getting a point at home clearly meant so much to Yuki and as someone who remembers his first year, when he was consistently outqualified by Pierre Gasly and swore too much on the radio, it has been a pleasure to see Yuki grow into one of F1’s most solid performers.

Tally:[2]
1. Max Verstappen- 3
2. Carlos Sainz- 3
3. Charles Leclerc- 2
4. Sergio Perez- 2
5. Yuki Tsunoda- 2
6. Nico Hulkenberg- 1.5
7. George Russell- 1
8. Oscar Piastri- 1
9. Lando Norris- 1
10. Lance Stroll- 1
11. Oliver Bearman- 1
12. Zhou Guanyu- 1
13. Kevin Magnussen- 0.5
[1] Bar when he was in hospital for appendicitis.

[2] Of how many times drivers have featured in these lists.
Australian Grand Prix 2024- Five Star Drivers

Apr 2nd, 2024
1. Carlos Sainz-
What more is there to say about Carlos’ performance that hasn’t already been said? After having an operation for appendicitis two weeks before, Sainz returned and won the race in a dominant fashion. It was a truly superhuman performance from Carlos, who continues to prove himself a driver who deserves to be in a top seat.

2. Lando Norris-

Sainz’s former teammate maximized all his opportunities in Australia. After pit strategy put Norris behind his teammate, Oscar Piastri, McLaren later ordered Piastri to let Norris past on lap 29. Norris then proceeded to build a 30 second gap to his teammate in 29 laps. This shows that Norris was dominant in the McLaren team in Australia and he believes that he could have beaten Leclerc to second, with better strategy.

3. Yuki Tsunoda-

Tsunoda is beginning to embarrass Daniel Ricciardo. In a year in which Ricciardo was supposed to prove he was still the driver who left Red Bull, he’s instead proving he is the driver who was dropped from McLaren. Whilst Ricciardo was nowhere during his home race, Yuki was consistently in the hunt for points and he left with six of them. Whether Yuki’s performances become consistent enough to lead to a Red Bull seat is yet to be seen, but he may have already ended Ricciardo’s chances.

4. Lance Stroll-

Lance deserves praise for his performance this weekend. He outqualified Alonso and finished ahead of him in the race, albeit this was assisted by Alonso’s debatable penalty. But still, Lance showed good pace, kept it clean and scored a large haul of points for Aston Martin to help maximize their opportunities in a week their silver rivals did anything but.

5. Nico Hulkenberg-

Nico Hulkenberg made it back-to-back points finishes in Australia. Whilst not maximizing qualifying, he maximized his race performance, to finish in front of all the other cars in the midfield, bar Tsunoda. With three front running cars retiring in Australia, this resulted in 9^th and 10^th finishing places for Haas, further bringing forward their revival under new team principle Komatsu.

Tally:[1]
1. Max Verstappen- 2
2. Carlos Sainz- 2
3. Nico Hulkenberg- 1.5
4. Charles Leclerc- 1
5. Sergio Perez- 1
6. George Russell- 1
7. Oscar Piastri- 1
8. Lando Norris- 1
9. Lance Stroll- 1
10. Oliver Bearman- 1
11. Yuki Tsunoda- 1
12. Zhou Guanyu- 1
13. Kevin Magnussen- 0.5
[1] Of how many times drivers have featured in these lists.
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024- Five Star Drivers

Mar 22nd, 2024
1. Max Verstappen-
It was another faultless weekend from Max Verstappen, being virtually unchallenged on the way to his 56^th victory. In contrast to the tight qualifying in Bahrain, Verstappen looked fully in control to take pole in Saudi. Whilst facing mild pressure to get past Norris after the safety car period, Verstappen retaking the lead was an inevitability. Once he got past Norris and back into the lead, he was his usual unstoppable self. Verstappen is once again on nine race victories in a row, a record that looked unbeatable a couple years ago, until Max beat it. After the next couple of races, Max may even beat his own win streak. As I will get very used to saying this year, he’s on another level.

2. Sergio Perez-
Much has been made of Sergio Perez’s performances over the last three years, as he becomes the latest in a list of unlucky drivers who have found themselves as teammates to an all time great. Thus, I’m assessing Sergio’s performances with the expectation that he will probably not beat Verstappen. From this standard, Perez had a pretty faultless weekend. Qualifying 3^rd, albeit only 0.016 seconds behind Charles Leclerc, Perez quickly passed Leclerc on lap four. From there, he shadowed Verstappen for the rest of the race, overtaking Norris a few laps after Verstappen had and delivering Red Bull a perfect 1-2 finish. In a weekend in which the driver many want to replace Perez was thoroughly trounced by his teammate, Perez is beginning to solidify his hold on that second Red Bull.

3. Oscar Piastri-

Oscar delivered on his McLaren’s potential this weekend, outqualifying his more experienced teammate and finishing the race as best of the rest. Whilst spending far too much time stuck behind Lewis Hamilton in the race, this was the fault of the McLaren lacking straight line speed, rather than Oscar underperforming. It also did not affect his final position, as the podium was out of reach given the pace of that Ferrari. Either way, he kept Alonso behind and was rewarded with 4^th in the race and 5^th in the championship. Last year Oscar proved that he deserved his seat and if he can keep outqualifying and outracing Norris, he can show why so many experts see him as a Verstappen/Leclerc level talent.

4. Oliver Bearman-

From one impressive young talent to another, Ollie was outstanding this weekend. After only having a single practice session to learn the car, he was already on the pace. Whilst qualifying was not perfect, Ollie missing out on Q3 by less than a tenth of a second, Ollie’s race more than made up for this. He showed good pace, made decisive overtakes and kept both Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton behind at the end of the race on old hard tyres. Whilst winning F2 is the most obvious path to Formula One, a performance like this shows all the F1 teams that he has the minerals to deliver in the top level of motorsports.

5. Haas-

I’m breaking my own rules slightly here, by giving half a point to both Haas drivers. Kevin Magnussen deserves acknowledgement for successfully holding back the midfield pack, which gained Haas their first point of the season. However, whilst a great example of unorthodoxy winning the day, I’m deducting half a point from Magnussen as he was only in this position after receiving twenty seconds of penalties, that ruined his own race. Thus, half a point also goes to Hulkenberg, the Haas driver who has been consistently delivering the best pace for the last year, as well as the driver who was able to capitalize on his team’s tactics to earn that point, something that may prove a rarity for those teams in the bottom half of the field.

Tally:[1]
1. Max Verstappen- 2
2. Charles Leclerc- 1
3. Carlos Sainz- 1
4. Sergio Perez- 1
5. George Russell- 1
6. Oscar Piastri- 1
7. Oliver Bearman- 1
8. Zhou Guanyu- 1
9. Nico Hulkenberg- 0.5
10. Kevin Magnussen- 0.5
[1] Of how many times drivers have featured in these lists.
Bahrain Grand Prix 2024- Five Star Drivers

Mar 6th, 2024
This is part of a series of articles I will write during the year, to highlight some of the best performances of the weekend. I originally considered ranking all of the drivers, but wanted to keep this series positive, so am only focusing on the best performances F1 had to offer. Thus, in no particular order, five standouts from the weekend.
1. Max Verstappen-
What more can be said about Verstappen? On a weekend where I had some hope of a Ferrari challenge, Max went and achieved a grand slam. He drove a car not dominant in qualifying to pole position, then drove away from the field, setting a fastest lap 1.4 seconds faster than anyone else. Verstappen deserves an endless amount of respect for his performances and I expect he’ll feature a lot in this series throughout this year. Perez also performed well, using the natural pace of that Red Bull to finish second, but Max was still 22 seconds ahead of him. Utter domination.

2. Carlos Sainz-

Sainz maximized his opportunities on Saturday. While his teammate suffered from brake issues and the Mercedes’ had cooling problems, Sainz still needed to overtake several cars to secure his place on the podium. He duly delivered a daring drive, with his moves on his teammate being particularly tenacious. If Carlos wants to get himself the best possible drive for 2025, he certainly started the season on the right foot.

3. Charles Leclerc-

Consistent brake issues meant Charles was lacking in pace compared to Carlos. We were robbed of seeing Charles at his best. But a 90% performance from Charles is still a gold star performance. Despite visibly awful issues, with a car that could barely turn right without locking up, Charles only finished 14 seconds behind his teammate and was comfortably ahead of the Mercedes powered cars. He even set the second fastest lap of the race. Most drivers who had the issues Charles faced this weekend would not have maximized their performance like this. The fact that Charles did provides me with hope that, when he has a fully working car underneath him, Charles can take the fight to the Red Bulls.

4. George Russell-

With so much talk and headlines involving Mercedes focusing on Lewis Hamilton, it becomes hard to remember that they have two top drivers. George Russell duly reminded me on Saturday, delivering when his teammate struggled. Russell qualified ahead of a Red Bull and a Ferrari, in a car that is yet to show it has the outright pace to do so. He then looked on for a podium for the first third of the race. Whilst he faded slightly, with his race pace being hindered by a cooling issue he showed a fighting spirit and extracted the maximum potential from the car he was given. The battle between him and Lewis will be fascinating this season and I’m personally interested to see how many of Mercedes’ eggs start falling in George’s basket.

5. Zhou Guanyu-

Zhou may have not finished in the points, but he took a car that did not look very fast and utilized a strategic offset, undercutting the bottom half of the field and then managing his tyres throughout the stints, to finish ahead of a number of faster cars and kick Sauber’s season off with a solid, if unremarkable, result. If Zhou wants to make a case to remain in F1 in a year where his contract is up, this is the perfect start.

Shoutout- Zane Maloney-

An acknowledgement has to Zane Maloney for his performance in F2 this weekend. He decided to become the Verstappen of F2, winning both the sprint and feature races easily. The overtakes he made in the sprint race were stunning, especially on Fittipaldi, which may be my moment of the weekend. In a weekend where other drivers expected for challenge for the title faltered, Maloney shone. There’s a long season to go, but the boy from Barbados just firmly put himself in title contention.