Okay, just a quick note about how this all works. Basically, after each race, I will give each race driver who took part in the weekend a rating out of 10, based on their qualifying and race performances. I will take quality of equipment into account, so if (for example) a Ferrari driver finishes 6th, they are less likely to get a high rating than if a Force India driver did the same. The plan is, at the end of the season, to add up these ratings and come up with a Pits Take 2011 Driver of the Year. In addition, I think rating each driver’s performance is a good way of assessing the race as a whole without missing out the smaller stories and races within races which make Formula 1 such a great spectacle. Right, on to the ratings…
Vettel – 10
A superb performance, picking up where he left off last season. Nearly a second ahead in qualifying, the German dominated the race. Assertive and important mid race pass on out-of sequence Button too.
Webber – 6
Slower than Vettel all weekend, by a big margin, and still hasn’t broken his Albert Park jinx. 3 stops wasn’t the way to go in the race and ended up a disappointing and bewildered 5th.
Hamilton – 9
A great start to the season and a vast improvement on testing form. Did very well to qualify on front row and raced impressively despite floor damage to keep Vettel honest and score important points for 2nd.
Button – 6
Spent ages stuck behind a slower Massa, and then foolishly cut chicane to earn drive through penalty. Recovered well generally, but put up weak resistance to Vettel when off-sequence in middle of race.
Alonso – 8
Gave his all in qualifying, but couldn’t quite get among McLarens. Raced well after poor start and showed encouraging race pace, but will be concerned about one-lap performance compared to Red Bull.
Massa – 5
Poor qualifying performance relative to his team mate and a messy race. Resisted Button well early on, but rather embarrassingly finished behind both Ferrari-powered Saubers (pre-penalties).
Rosberg – 6
Got into Q3 at the expense of his team mate, and was running solidly in the points before being taken out by an overly-optimistic Barrichello lunge. Never looked likely to score big points though.
Schumacher – 5
Carried on where he left off in 2010 by missing Q3, getting involved in a midfield fracas (with Alguersuari), damaging car and then retiring with accident damage. Where’s the real Michael Schumacher?
Heidfeld – 3
An extremely disappointing weekend. Struggled for one lap pace and embarrassingly eliminated in Q1. Damage from first-lap incident provides some mitigation for sluggish race to 12th, but given Renault’s veritable army of reserve drivers, needs to improve fast.
Petrov – 10
My pick for driver of the weekend. Appeared to handle the pressure caused by the absence of Kubica with ease. Made a cracking start which formed the basis of what became a great drive onto the podium.
Barrichello – 4
A very poor weekend for the veteran, who looked more like a rookie at times. Error in qualifying saw him stuck in the gravel; he then visited the same gravel trap in the race before taking out himself and an innocent Rosberg.
Maldonado – 6
Didn’t do much wrong on his debut, but equally didn’t set the world alight. Outqualified Barrichello after the Brazilian’s error, but unable to make much of an impact in the race before mechanical problems intervened.
Sutil – 7
DRS-related mishap in Q2 put him behind team mate Di Resta in qualifying. Solid race performance, but struggled to get ahead of his team mate. Nevertheless picked up points after both Saubers DQ’d.
Di Resta – 8
Very solid debut from the Scotsman, who belied his rookie status by outqualifying Sutil and matching the German in the race before team orders intervened. Picked up a point in wake of Sauber’s misfortune.
Kobayashi – 8
Excellent qualifying performance saw the Japanese never outside the top 10 in all three sessions. Less combative in the race than usual, but drove maturely to 8th before the stewards intervened.
Perez – 9
A fabulous debut. Unlucky to miss out on Q3, but starred in the race by maturely perserving his tyres and making only one pit stop. Cruelly robbed of points finish by a technical infringement, but he made his mark.
Buemi – 7
Did very well to get to Q3, but used up all his soft tyres in doing so. Solid race; couldn’t really avoid being passed by Massa but put up a good fight, showed decent turn of pace, and picked up 4 useful points.
Alguersuari – 6
Underachieved in qualifying and the race after an encouraging practice. Buemi beat him to a spot in Q3, and Alguersuari responded by running into his team mate (and Schumacher) on the first lap! Resultant damage ruined his chances.
Kovalainen – 6
Outqualified Trulli, but didn’t make much of an impression in the race before a water leak ended things prematurely. The Finn will be worried about the bigger-than-expected gap to the established teams.
Trulli – 6
Drove a solid race after an unspectacular qualifying to wind up 13th. Still two laps down on the leaders though, and a lap off the points. Seems to be déjà vue from 2010, both for team and Trulli.
Karthikeyan – No rating
Impossible to really rate the HRT drivers since they did next to no running. Karthikeyan in particular was disadvantaged, and although he was slower than Liuzzi and failed to qualify he can’t really be blamed.
Liuzzi – No rating
Did a decent job in qualifying to stay out of the way of the other runners while effectively shaking down the new HRT. Stayed positive in wake of team’s problems, but deep down he must wonder what he has let himself in for…
Glock – 6
The German performed miracles in qualifying to get the Virgin within half a second of the Lotuses, but not able to show the same pace in race and a wheel problem meant he was not classified. Negative pre and post race comments let slip his frustrations.
D’Ambrosio – 7
A decent debut for the Belgian, who kept his cool in qualifying to scrape under the 107% limit. Brought the car home reliably in the race (albeit 2 laps behind the rest) which is exactly what the team needed.
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