Japanese Grand Prix: Harry Benjamin’s driver ratings for Suzuka weekend

Kimi Antonelli – 8.5 – Antonelli had a certain buzz about him after his breakthrough win in China and was immediately on the pace in Japan. Had the better of Mercedes team-mate George Russell in qualifying but another poor start saw him plummet down the order to sixth. While the car had pace, I don’t think the win was there without the luck of the safety car.

Oscar Piastri – 9 – When he does start a race, he scores big! Immediately on the pace and had an advantage baked in from Friday over McLaren team-mate Lando Norris with the world champion’s reliability issues. Nevertheless, a superb start to get both Mercedes by Turn One and then control the pace for the first stint. A real shame about the timing of the safety car but without it, Piastri could have stolen a win on Sunday.

Charles Leclerc – 8 – On top of his Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton from the get-go even with a car that was to neither drivers’ liking. Flew in qualifying and despite downplaying his final lap, he could have pipped Piastri for P2. Another blinder of a start on lap one and great wheel to wheel battling throughout, with some quite close call action with Hamilton. Fended off Russell right to the flag.

George Russell – 7 – Quick, as you’d expect, but ever since that small change to suspension in qualifying, Russell struggled for pace. Another poor start, not as bad as Antonelli’s but enough to cause him trouble. Dealt a bad card with the safety car but couldn’t exactly carve his way through the field and couldn’t find a way past Leclerc for the final podium place.

Lando Norris – 8 – Considering he could barely get a lap in some of the sessions, plagued with reliability issues and down to potentially his last battery, I’d say this was a sold recovery for Norris. There was clearly more pace to be had but given he hadn’t done any running on high fuel before the race, Japan was a job well done.

Lewis Hamilton – 6 – Never looked at home on board his Ferrari, slipping and sliding his way through practice and never looked to have Leclerc covered this weekend. Managed to get stuck in with a few battles and clearly wasn’t going to just get out of the way of his team-mate, which delivered us some more fun wheel-to-wheel action.

Pierre Gasly – 9 – My personal star of the weekend, alongside Piastri. The Alpine is clearly still tricky but Gasly is able to use all his experience to not only be best of the rest in qualifying but hold his own in the race too, despite Max Verstappen looming down his neck for the majority of the grand prix.

Max Verstappen – 6 – Another weekend where the car was not there for him. A fairly sizeable upgrade to the Red Bull seemed to make no difference, followed by further comments questioning his future.