F1 2023 Driver Ratings – Austrian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen sent his legion of orange-clad supporters into euphoria by taking a dominant victory in Sunday’s 2023 Austrian Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc pushed the reigning world champion all the way but had to settle for second, whilst Sergio Perez ended his bad run of form with third ahead of Lando Norris.

Total-Motorsport.com rate all 20 drivers based on their qualifying and race performances at the Austrian GP.

Team errors such as a slow pit stop or poor strategy do not affect our ratings as they are no fault of the drivers. Instead, our ratings solely look at how well the drivers got on throughout the weekend in Austria.

F1 Driver Ratings – Austrian GP 2023

Max Verstappen 10/10

Sprint race finish: 1st; Qualifying: 1st – Race: 1st

Another clean sweep for Verstappen however unlike most of his dominant displays in 2023, Leclerc pushed him hard throughout but after making the two-stop strategy work (three including the late stop for the fastest lap), victory was never in doubt.

Charles Leclerc 8.5/10

Sprint race finish: 12th; Qualifying: 2nd – Race: 2nd

Sprint race aside, Austria was kind to Leclerc, narrowly missing out on pole before leading the race for a few laps. Sadly he was unable to keep up with Verstappen despite his best efforts.

Sergio Perez 7.5/10

Sprint race finish: 2nd; Qualifying: 15th – Race: 3rd

Unwell and receiving further earache from his increasingly frustrated boss, Austria could have become another weekend to forget for Perez, but he pulled it back, securing two trips to the rostrum. 

Lando Norris 9/10

Sprint race finish: 9th; Qualifying: 4th – Race: 4th

With an upgraded McLaren, Norris could return to fighting in the top six, running as high as third in the GP before settling for fifth, which later became fourth due to Sainz’s post-race penalty.

Fernando Alonso 7/10

Sprint race finish: 7th; Qualifying: 7th – Race: 5th

Austria was a rare quiet weekend for Alonso, who was restricted by Aston Martin’s lack of pace, but nonetheless, more solid points will do nicely for both team and driver.

Carlos Sainz 8/10 

Sprint race finish: 3rd; Qualifying: 3rd – Race: 6th

A good weekend for Sainz despite suffering from brake issues in sprint qualifying and losing ground after Ferrari’s double stack didn’t pay off. 

George Russell 6/10

Sprint race finish: 8th; Qualifying: 11th – Race: 7th

Russell could have done without missing Q3, but like his teammate, he couldn’t do much about Mercedes’ struggles and had to work hard to earn points.

Lewis Hamilton 6/10

Sprint race finish: 10th; Qualifying: 5th – Race: 8th

Hamilton didn’t have a vintage weekend in Austria as Mercedes’ weakness reappeared with a vengeance, brake issues, and a five-second penalty followed by an additional 10 seconds after the race added insult to injury.  

Lance Stroll 7.5/10

Sprint race finish: 4th; Qualifying: 6th – Race: 9th

It’s a pity Stroll lost out in the stops as he was quicker than Alonso throughout the weekend in Austria and could have been on course for a top-six finish if Aston Martin had gotten the strategy right.

Pierre Gasly 6.5/10 

Sprint race finish: 15th; Qualifying: 9th – Race: 10th

Solid weekend’s work for Gasly, picking up another point however, he could have got more from Austria if it weren’t for a poor sprint and a 10-second time penalty.

Alex Albon 7/10

Sprint race finish: 13th; Qualifying: 10th – Race: 11th

It looked as though Albon was on course to repeat his Canadian GP heroics after securing yet another Q3 appearance, but Williams’ race pace fell flat, ensuring his fight for points would be fruitless.

Zhou Guanyu 5/10

Sprint race finish: 19th; Qualifying: 17th – Finish: 12th 

Alfa Romeo had no pace in Austria, and Zhou couldn’t get among the points-paying positions.

Logan Sargeant 5/10

Sprint race finish: 18th; Qualifying: 18th – Finish: 13th

For the first time since Bahrain, Sargeant enjoyed a decent weekend after a solid drive to 13th which saw him in the top 10. However, his Qualifying and Sprint performances let him down. 

Esteban Ocon 6/10

Sprint race finish: 7th; Qualifying: 12th – Finish: 14th

Ocon got a couple of points in the sprint after just holding off Russell, but a slow stop and five-second penalty followed by 30 seconds being added on post-race meant he couldn’t add to his tally.

Valtteri Bottas 4/10

Sprint race finish: 19th; Qualifying: 14th – Race: 15th 

More of the same for Bottas in Austria, as he was unable to make any progress during the race despite making Q2. A bold strategy call to start the sprint on dries lasted as far as the formation lap.

Oscar Piastri 3.5/10

Sprint race finish: 11th; Qualifying: 13th – Race: 16th 

With upgrades not ready for his car Piastri was up against it in Austria, but he blotted his copybook by ramming into Magnussen at Turn 3 during the race damaging his front wing.

Nyck de Vries 3/10

Sprint race finish: 17th; Qualifying: 20th [started from the pits] – Race: 17th 

With rumours swirling about his future, de Vries gave his bosses further ammunition by qualifying last for Sunday’s race. Two drives to 17th will have hardly given him much job security.

Yuki Tsunoda 2.5/10

Sprint race finish: 16th; Qualifying: 16th – Race: 18th

A wretched weekend for Tsunoda after damaging his front wing at the start of the race before picking up three-time penalties for track limits infringements. 

Kevin Magnussen 3/10

Sprint race finish: 14th; Qualifying: 19th [started from the pits] – Race: 19th

Haas had pace in Austria, but for Magnussen, it didn’t show, spending most of the weekend rooted to the back and picking up his fair share of penalties. 

Nico Hulkenberg 7/10

Sprint race finish: 6th; Qualifying: 8th –  Race: DNF 

What might have been for Hulkenberg, who showed good pace all weekend, only for his car to let him down in the race costing him a chance of picking more points.

When is the next F1 2023 race?

With the F1 circus finished in Austria, we move on to the 2023 British Grand Prix, which will be held at Silverstone in Northamptonshire, England, over the weekend of July 7-9.