Hungarian Grand Prix driver ratings: Who was your driver of the day in Budapest?

As you may know by now, for the 2018 season I’m going to look back on the Grands Prix from a slightly different angle. I’ve said all I’m going to say about the cars and the future of F1 with my top 11 suggestions for how to fix the sport, so I’ll say no more and wait for the Ross Brawn revolution.

Meanwhile in my pre-season column I made my predictions as to how I reckon the intra-team qualifying rivalry is going to shape up – so now it’s time to see how those rivalries develop.

There might only be one winner of the Grand Prix but for the drivers your biggest opposition is your team-mate so there are actually ten winners and ten losers!

With no rain and no Safety Car the Hungaroring is never likely to put on a particularly exciting race and, apart from a bit of pushing and shoving at the end, so it turned out to be. However, the day was saved by Daniel Ricciardo starting a lowly 12th, dropping to 16th on the opening lap and then entertaining us by battling back to finish fourth.

MY DRIVER OF THE DAY: DANIEL RICCIARDO 10/10

RED BULL

Everyone was expecting Red Bull to perform well at a circuit that rewards a good handling car. Quickest in P1 but then dumped to fifth and sixth in P3 and, when it rained and we all thought now was their time, they finished qualifying a disappointing 7th and 12th.

Ricciardo lost his best lap when Lance Stroll span in front of him but even the mercurial Max Verstappen couldn’t find any grip wherever he tried.

Verstappen had an early finish in Hungary thanks to another engine failure (Pic: Sutton)

Verstappen had an early finish in Hungary thanks to another engine failure (Pic: Sutton)

While Verstappen’s weekend just got worse with another dead Renault (apparently another failure of the dreaded MGU-K that Liberty want to dump but the Manufacturers are rumoured to be wanting to save) while Ricciardo got on with his legendary dicing and slicing.

RICCIARDO: 10/10

VERSTAPPEN: 6/10

***

MERCEDES

Another brilliant piece of wet weather qualifying by Hamilton and a very controlled race to a relatively easy win as his ‘wingman’ Bottas was pitted early to counter Ferrari’s Kimi undercut and left to flounder around on well used tyres holding back the Ferrari hordes.

He managed to clobber one of the Ferraris and then did his best to counter Ricciardo’s progress, but I got the impression he’s not looking forward to the rest of the season as official Mercedes Number Two.

HAMILTON: 9/10

BOTTAS: 7/10

***

TORO ROSSO

The Toro Rosso team seemed a pretty happy place to be all weekend. Trouble free Practice sessions and Hartley only 0.113secs down on Gasly in P3 saw them 10th and 12th fastest in the dry.

Hartley put in a good drive, but came away with no points (Pic: Sutton)

Hartley put in a good drive, but came away with no points (Pic: Sutton)

Well organised in getting the cars on track at the right time in qualifying saw them rise to an excellent 6th and 8th on the grid, sandwiching the best placed Red Bull between them.

Being understandably over-cautious, as he ran down to the first corner inside Pierre, Brendon lost a couple of places and, while the Frenchman charged on to be 6th and ‘best of the rest’, the Kiwi got stuck behind the medium-tyred Sainz and was then given a race strategy by the team that cost him further. He deserved a point at least but ultimately had nothing to show for a solid weekend.

GASLY: 9/10

HARTLEY: 8/10

***

HAAS

After a disappointing finish to the German Grand Prix, Kevin Magnussen bounced back with another impressive drive. Perhaps surprised to find themselves behind the Toro Rossos but a good start by the Dane saw him have a rather lonely drive to 7th while teammate Grosjean got mired in the midfield mayhem, losing two places on the opening lap and only managing to salvage the last point by the end of the race.

MAGNUSSEN: 9/10

GROSJEAN: 7/10

***

FERRARI

After Practice sessions that made them once again favourites for victory, the Ferraris found themselves struggling when it came to the wet qualifying. Vettel, having been faster than his teammate in every session except the very last period of qualifying, not only found himself behind Raikkonen but both Mercedes as well – 0.562secs off Hamilton and only 0.533secs ahead of Sainz.

The two Ferraris wheel to wheel (Pic: Sutton)

The two Ferraris wheel to wheel (Pic: Sutton)

Starting on the harder, Medium tyre was perhaps the only way to try and upset Lewis with Kimi letting him by at Turn Two and then being used to lure Bottas into an early stop. Sadly, the plan didn’t work as first Sainz baulked Seb badly when being lapped and then a slightly botched pit stop saw him emerge behind the second Mercedes and not ahead of it as the plan had intended. In the end, salvaging 2nd and 3rd was probably the best they could have expected.

VETTEL: 8/10

RAIKKONEN: 8/10

***

MCLAREN

While not really doing anything that special, McLaren actually had a pretty solid weekend.

Vandoorne had a new chassis so there could be no more excuses and Alonso used all his guile to steer his car to 11th on the grid while Stoffel had one of those right place, wrong time sessions that stuck him five places further back.

Both started on the Medium tyre and, avoiding first corner contact for a change, the young Belgian soon found himself sitting right behind his master as they ran 12th and 13th. Helped by Ocon, also on Mediums, holding up all the mid-pack early stoppers not only meant they found themselves running 7th and 8th but also meant they were able to make their tyres stops and only lose one place to Magnussen. Unfortunately, Stoffel had to retire but at least he’s back on the right track.

ALONSO: 8/10

VANDOORNE: 7/10

***

RENAULT

Despite sitting a solid 7th and 8th on the timesheets after P3, the Yellow Perils had something of a lacklustre weekend.

A stunning qualifying lap - very much in the right place at the right time - saw Sainz line up fifth on the grid but a problem with refuelling meant Hulkenberg was way back in 13th place.

Both opted to start on the Medium tyres, but Carlos got shoved wide at the first corner and dropped to 8th while Nico made up three places to end the first lap 10th. The fact that they then ended the race 9th and 12th with no real excuses tells its own story.

SAINZ: 6/10

HULKENBERG: 5/10

***

FORCE INDIA

It obviously wasn’t a very happy camp at Force India with their financial woes spread all over the media and a lack of updates thanks to the cash flow problem.

Normally 15th and 19th in P3 would hardly be what you’d expect but both out in Q1 and lining up 18th and 19th was a horror story – even if Stroll starting from the pit lane did move them both up one.

Ocon at least had a brake failure excuse but Perez could only resort to the right place, wrong time explanation. Little improved in the race and they finished with just one Sauber and the two Williams behind them.

OCON: 5/10

PEREZ: 4/10

***

WILLIAMS

After Sergei Sirotkin got himself up to 16th in free practice and at least showed Williams were making some progress, qualifying saw him another never on track with the right tyres at the right time and he was slowest of all.

Another disappointing race for Williams (Pic: Sutton)

Another disappointing race for Williams (Pic: Sutton)

Lance Stroll however took a moral boosting leap into Q2 before a bubble bursting trip into the barriers and a start from the pit lane because he had to use a different nose. Both then drove round and round for 68 laps – two less than Lewis Hamilton.

SIROTKIN: 5/10

STROLL: 4/10

***

SAUBER

This week it was Leclerc’s turn to hand over his car to Giovinazzi and when the Italian finished the session 18th – and was two places ahead of his teammate – it didn’t bode well for the weekend.

By P3 Leclerc had hauled the team up to 13th but neither really shone in the rain. When Ericsson was squeezed into Ricciardo and Leclerc sandwiched between two Force Indias at the first corner you knew it just wasn’t going to be their weekend.

ERICSSON: 4/10

LECLERC: 4/10

***

FINAL TABLE FROM THE HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX

10/10 - Ricciardo

9/10 - Hamilton, Gasly, Magnussen

8/10 - Hartley, Vettel, Raikkonen, Alonso

7/10 - Bottas, Grosjean, Vandoorne

6/10 - Verstappen, Sainz

5/10 - Hulkenberg, Ocon, Sirotkin

4/10 - Perez, Stroll, Ericsson, Leclerc