Azerbaijan Grand Prix Driver Ratings

An eventful weekend in Baku full of incident and drama lent the race result an unusual feel, as three drivers scored their first podiums of the year. But it wasn't the eventual race winner who scored top marks in our driver ratings

Alex Kalinauckas Jun 7, 2021, 10:23 AM

Upd: Jun 10, 2021, 6:55 AM

Sergio Perez – 8

Very close to a nine given how things played out in the race, but Perez's mark is mainly down to his mistake locking up at Turn 4 on the first, critical, runs in Q3 where he felt he got too close to Norris. This meant he qualified behind three slower cars. Overtook excellently on lap one and drove brilliantly from there, other than a slip at his stop.

Sebastian Vettel – 9

Vettel's Q2 exit costs him the maximum, despite his excellent race drive. A huge lock-up at Turn 15 was what he was actually livid about rather than the 0.029s deficit to P10 when Q2 ended early. In the race, he executed a brilliant overcut to gain two spots, then used the fresher rubber to pass Leclerc and Gasly (aided by the AlphaTauri's power problem) at the safety car restart.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.