Turkish Grand Prix 2021: Driver Ratings

The Turkish Grand Prix was arguably one of the less eventful races we've had this season. Valtteri Bottas dominated the race in what appeared to be a substantially superior Mercedes. In the process, he picked up his first win of the season.

The race saw some superb drives through the field, and to add to that, some slightly average decision-making by some of the drivers as well. On that note, here's a look at how each driver fared during the Turkish Grand Prix:

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Turkish Grand Prix: Driver Ratings

Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton - 7/10

Lewis Hamilton's decision to not pit when Mercedes asked him to possibly cost him a podium. Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton picked up a ten-place grid penalty at the Turkish Grand Prix, which could have hindered his final result on Sunday. However, the pace on display from Hamilton during the Turkish Grand Prix weekend was scintillating. The reigning champion dominated in all the sessions, and duly picked up pole position.

His exploits in the race were slightly muted, as the Mercedes driver arguably lost a podium by not pitting when the pit wall had suggested. Finishing fifth was a slightly underwhelming result for the Mercedes driver, especially after showing such dominating pace throughout the weekend.

Mercedes: Valtteri Bottas - 9/10

Valtteri Bottas termed his win at the Turkish Grand Prix as one of the best of his career. Winning the race from pole in the fastest car on the grid should not ideally qualify as one of your best wins, But the Turkish Grand Prix helped him in proving his doubters wrong.

Bottas has the reputation of not being the best driver in wet weather conditions, but his speed on a damp track was quite impressive. Bottas efficiently did what a No.2 driver should do, i.e. win the race when the no.1 isn't in contention.

Red Bull Racing: Max Verstappen - 9/10

Max Verstappen would be relatively happy with his efforts at the Turkish Grand Prix, especially considering that Mercedes were just out of reach. Nevertheless, Max qualified third behind the Mercedes duo, and started the race in second.

He duly followed Valtteri Bottas throughout the race, and finished second in a race where Red Bull were just no match for Mercedes. Could he have challenged Bottas in the Turkish Grand Prix?

By the looks of it, no. Verstappen's car was just not quick enough. In the end, Max extended his championship lead to six points with a performance where he maximised whatever he had at his disposal.

Red Bull Racing: Sergio Perez - 8/10

Qualifying continues to be a cause of concern for Perez. Even at the Turkish Grand Prix, the Mexican qualified behind a Ferrari and an Alpha Tauri, which is just not good enough for Red Bull.

The fact that Checo was duly able to find his way through both Leclerc and Gasly and valiantly kept Hamilton at bay was redemption at its best, though. Checo returned to the podium for Red Bull, and he will now look to continue his momentum.

McLaren: Lando Norris - 8/10

The Turkish Grand Prix was slightly unfamiliar territory for Lando Norris. For a change, he found himself in a car that was not as competitive as the McLaren has usually been this season. Norris, though, didn't let his head down, and extracted as much as he could from the McLaren.

The qualifying and race results from the Turkish Grand Prix do not look great as compared to the lofty standards McLaren has achieved recently. But Norris yet again proved his worth to the team by finishing seventh.

McLaren: Daniel Ricciardo - 4/10

It looked like back to square one for Daniel Ricciardo at the Turkish Grand Prix. The affable Australian was eliminated in Q1 on Saturday. Sunday was not much different for the Australia,n as he lacked speed, and more importantly, confidence to make any sort of meaningful overtakes in his McLaren.

In the end, finishing 13th in a McLaren made it a weekend to forget for Ricciardo, who would have thought that the tide would change after his Monza win.

Ferrari: Charles Leclerc - 8/10

Charles Leclerc was the star of qualifying at the Turkish Grand Prix. The lap that he pulled out during the later stages of the session was nothing short of impressive, as his car never looked as competitive during the session.

The race was slightly underwhelming for the French driver. He kept pace with the cars in front, gambled on not pitting for new intermediates, and pitted later in the race to finish P4. Overall, it was a good weekend for the young Ferrari driver.

Ferrari: Carlos Sainz Jr. - 8/10

If it was not for Carlos Sainz, there wasn't much action to watch during the Turkish Grand Prix. The Spaniard was one of the few cars that was able to consistently pull out great overtakes and progress through the field. After taking a penalty for a power unit change, this was a decent result for him.

Alpine: Fernando Alonso - 3/10

Alonso was amazing during qualifying at the Turkish Grand Prix. However, his first-lap entanglement with Piere Gasly was not ideal, and then his subsequent crash with Mick Schumacher was rather clumsy.

After falling down the order and picking up a five-second time penalty, Alonso was more or less stuck in traffic, and could not make much progress. It was a rare off-weekend for the Spanish legend.

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Alpine: Esteban Ocon - 6/10

Behind the euphoria of finishing the race without pitting for tires is a reality Esteban Ocon would be more than aware of. The reality is the fact that he is slowly falling behind Alonso.

That was on evidence at the Turkish Grand Prix where Alonso was able to qualify inside the top ten, while Ocon was eliminated in Q2. There have been too many promising young drivers that have been chewed up and spat out as Alonso's teammates.

So the French driver would need to pull up his socks if he doesn't want to suffer the same fate.

Alpha Tauri: Pierre Gasly - 8/10

During the Turkish Grand Prix, Pierre Gasly did what he usually does. He qualified the Alpha Tauri in a respectable position on Saturday, and then finished as high as possible with the car at his disposal.

Was there something he could have done better? Maybe his defence against Lewis was not as robust as it could have been.

Alpha Tauri: Yuki Tsunoda - 6/10

Yuki Tsunoda is slowly starting to get the hang of things in Formula 1. The problem? His learning has arguably been too slow. The high of finally making it to Q3 was quickly replaced by the low of yet again making an unforced error and tumbling down the order at the Turkish Grand Prix.

Yuki Tsunoda said he was surprised when he learnt that Alpha Tauri had extended his contract for another year. The sad thing is, he's right, and he needs to get better quickly after his performances at the Turkish Grand Prix.

Aston Martin: Sebastian Vettel - 3/10

Vettel didn't have a memorable outing at the Turkish Grand Prix. He has just not been himself since the summer break, and his string of poor performances is starting to stack up now. He was easily out-qualified by his teammate on Saturday, and Vettel just didn't have the pace to put up any kind of fight in the race either.

His move to slicks reeked of desperation because of a lack of speed on intermediates, and as things turned out, the move was just not on at that time.

Aston Martin: Lance Stroll - 8/10

Another one of those weekends where Lance Stroll turned up and did a fabulous job. Stroll loves the Turkish Grand Prix. He achieved his first career pole position here last year, and even this year, he was the faster of the two Aston Martins.

Alfa Romeo: Antonio Giovinazzi - 5/10

Just a few tenths away from a point in the Turkish Grand Prix, Giovinazzi had a somewhat anonymous race. An average qualifying followed by a somewhat average race, a race in which you disobey the team orders is not really what you need to do if you are looking to secure the seat for next year at your team.

Overall, it was a typical Giovinazzi performance, one that cements the fact that he's a 'good but not great driver'.

Alfa Romeo: Kimi Raikkonen - 5/10

Raikkonen was quicker than his teammate at one point in the Turkish Grand Prix. However, that did not result in anything substantial, as Giovinazzi did not follow the team's orders to let Raikkonen pass. In the end, the Finn laboured home in 12th in another rather uneventful race.

It was another race where there wasn't anything special coming out of the Alfa Romeo camp as well.

Williams: George Russell - 6/10

It was one of those races for George where the Williams just didn't give him much. He was again the better of the two drivers at Williams, but that's not saying much about the weekend.

In the end, 15th place ahead of Fernando Alonso should be appreciated. but there wasn't much to talk about for the Brit during the Turkish Grand Prix.

Williams: Nicholas Latifi - 5/10

It was pretty much the same weekend at the Turkish Grand Prix for Latifi that his teammate experienced. Latifi has been picking up pace recently, and running Russell close in recent races. He kept up the trend this time around as well.

A 17th position in the Turkish Grand Prix is hardly indicative of anything, but you couldn't do much else driving a Williams anyway.

Haas: Mick Schumacher - 7/10

Mick Schumacher found something during Q1, and was able to avoid Q1 elimination for the first time in his career. His race was compromised by Fernando Alonso punting him down the order with a rather ambitious move.

Schumacher climbed back ahead of Mazepin before the end of the race to finish 19th on a weekend where he was able to show the most one could with the machinery he had at his disposal.

Haas: Nikita Mazepin - 2/10

It's disappointing that Nikita Mazepin finds a spot on the grid in 2022 while Oscar Piastri, the current F2 championship leader does not. Nikita was off the pace compared to his teammate who reached Q2. The young Russian, though, capped off his typically dismal Turkish Grand Prix race by blocking Hamilton.

Mazepin has the speed, for sure, but is he worthy of a seat in Formula 1? It's difficult to respond to the question in the affirmative.