It’s eight on the bounce for Max Verstappen, who took a commanding victory in Sunday’s 2023 Belgian Grand Prix, with Sergio Perez coming home second and securing Red Bull‘s first one-two since May’s Miami GP.
Charles Leclerc ended the first half of the season on a high for Ferrari with third ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who picked up the fastest lap, Fernando Alonso and George Russell.
Total-Motorsport.com rate all 20 drivers based on their qualifying and race performances at the Belgian 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 Belgium.
F1 Driver Ratings – Belgian GP 2023
Max Verstappen 9.5/10
Sprint race: 1st; Qualifying: 1st [started 6th]- Race: 1st
Another relatively smooth waltz to victory for Verstappen, even if he had to wait until Lap 17 to take the lead from his teammate before going on to make mincemeat of his opposition.
Sergio Perez 7/10
Sprint race: DNF; Qualifying: 3rd – Race: 2nd
On the face of it, Spa was a much better weekend for Perez, but he’ll feel slightly disheartened by an awful Sprint and a 22-second gap between him and his teammate at the end of the race.
Charles Leclerc 8/10
Sprint race: 5th; Qualifying: 2nd – Race: 3rd
A good weekend’s work for Leclerc, with more solid points in the Sprint despite a slow stop and another trip to the rostrum after keeping a hard-charging Hamilton at bay.
Lewis Hamilton 7.5/10
Sprint race: 7th; Qualifying: 4th – Race: 4th
Fourth place and the fastest lap of the race at a track where Mercedes struggled will be a welcome tonic for Hamilton after a tricky Sprint day where he lost out on a possible podium following contact with Perez.
Fernando Alonso 8/10
Sprint race: DNF; Qualifying: 9th – Race: 5th
After an awful Sprint race which ended in the gravel trap, Alonso had a superb race profiteering from the chaos at La Source and a double stint on mediums to pick up his first top-five since Austria.
George Russell 6.5/10
Sprint race: 8th; Qualifying: 8th – Race: 6th
Russell’s weekend was a mixed bag, to say the least, as although he managed to pick another top-six finish, his teammate had the measure of him throughout.
Lando Norris 7.5/10
Sprint race: 6th; Qualifying: 7th – Race: 7th
Tyre troubles early on in the race meant Norris’ had his work cut out, but a seventh place after nursing 27-lap-old softs will be seen as a good result.
Esteban Ocon 6.5/10
Sprint race: 9th; Qualifying: 15th – Race: 8th
After crashing in Qualifying, Ocon duly paid back his mechanics’ efforts by charging through the pack and salvaging some points for a beleaguered Alpine team.
Lance Stroll 6/10
Sprint race: 11th; Qualifying: 10th – Race: 9th
Stroll didn’t have the easiest time of it in Spa, crashing in Sprint qualifying after being put on slicks too early. But a solid drive in the Sprint saw him pick up two points.
Yuki Tsunoda 7.5/10
Sprint race: 18th; Qualifying: 11th – Race: 10th
Following two tricky weekends, Tsunoda bounced back nicely at Spa, running as high as sixth in the race, before defending stoutly in the closing stages from a hard-charging Gasly to secure a well-earned point.
Pierre Gasly 7/10
Sprint race: 3rd; Qualifying: 12th – Race: 11th
It was a weekend of two halves for Gasly as a third consecutive non-score in the race was offset by a superb third place in the Sprint after holding Hamilton at bay.
Valtteri Bottas 5/10
Sprint race: 13th; Qualifying: 14th – Race: 12th
No points again for Bottas, as he spent most of the weekend mired in the midfield and couldn’t challenge for points.
Zhou Guanyu 4.5/10
Sprint race: 15th; Qualifying: 17th – Race: 13th
Clean albeit sluggish weekend for Zhou, who was outpaced and outraced throughout the weekend by his teammate.
Alex Albon 6.5/10
Sprint race: 12th; Qualifying: 16th – Race: 14th
Albon tried to squeeze everything out of the Williams at Spa and even spent some time running in the lower end of the points, but faster cars were too strong.
Kevin Magnussen 4.5/10
Sprint race: 14th; Qualifying: 13th [started 16th] – Race: 15th
Making Q2 for the first time since Canada was a welcome boost for Magnussen, but after picking up a three-place grid penalty for blocking Leclerc in Qualifying, any chance of points went down the drain.
Daniel Ricciardo 5/10
Sprint race: 10th; Qualifying: 19th – Race: 16th
If it weren’t for track limits, Ricciardo could have made Q2, but after his best time was deleted, the Australian endured a taxing race. His drive in the Sprint, albeit impressive, was also pointless.
Logan Sargeant 4.5/10
Sprint race: 16th; Qualifying: 18th – Race: 17th
An incident at Les Combes put Sargeant on course for another frustrating weekend anchored towards the back despite a brief run in the points before rain fell.
Nico Hulkenberg 5/10
Sprint race: 17th; Qualifying: 20th [started from the pitlane] – Race: 18th
With a pair of last-place starts, Hulkenberg had a wretched weekend, and despite showcasing good speed at times, his best efforts at getting something from Spa would prove futile.
Carlos Sainz 6/10
Sprint race: 4th; Qualifying: 5th – Race: DNF
It had been a steady weekend for Sainz, but he was lucky to escape a penalty after chopping across Piastri at La Source, which caused him and the young Australian race-ending damage.
Oscar Piastri 8.5/10
Sprint race: 2nd; Qualifying: 6th – Race: DNF
One of the stars of Spa, Piastri, drove brilliantly in the Sprint and had the measure of Norris throughout the weekend. But contact with Sainz at La Source ended a great weekend’s work early.
Where is the next F1 2023 race?
F1 will return from its summer break with the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix from Zandvoort on August 25-27, where championship leader Max Verstappen will be racing on home soil.
