Max Verstappen completed a championship-winning weekend in style with a dominant victory in Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix.
Oscar Piastri made it back-to-back podiums with second, whilst Lando Norris made it a double McLaren podium for the second consecutive race weekend with third.
Total-Motorsport.com’s driver ratings for the 2023 Qatar GP assesses all 20 drivers based on their qualifying and race performances in Qatar.
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 driver ratings solely look at how well the drivers got on throughout the weekend in Qatar.
F1 Driver Ratings – Qatar GP
Max Verstappen 9.5/10
Sprint race finish: 2nd; Qualifying: 1st – Race: 1st
With his third world title wrapped up before race day, Verstappen had little to worry about on Sunday, enjoying a blissful drive to take win number 14.
Oscar Piastri 9/10
Sprint race finish: 1st; Qualifying: 6th – Race: 2nd
Fresh from securing his first F1 podium, Piastri went one better in Qatar, dominating Sprint Day and finishing second behind Verstappen in the main race.
Lando Norris 8/10
Sprint race finish: 3rd; Qualifying: 10th – Race: 3rd
Norris wasn’t at ease in Losail and was unlucky to lose second on the grid for Sunday’s race because of track limit infringements. Nonetheless, third was a solid result.
George Russell 8.5/10
Sprint race finish: 4th; Qualifying: 2nd – Race: 4th
What could have been for Russell as damage picked up in a Lap 1 collision with Hamilton gave him plenty to do, and ran out of laps to secure a podium.
Charles Leclerc 7.5/10
Sprint race finish: 12th; Qualifying: 5th – Race: 5th
More of the same for Leclerc, as his fourth consecutive top-five was the best he could manage with a car which was wayward throughout proceedings.
Fernando Alonso 7/10
Sprint race finish: 8th; Qualifying: 4th – Race: 6th
Alonso’s first top six since his second place at Zandvoort should have been reason to celebrate, but he could have finished higher if not for a trip across the gravel, which cost him time to Leclerc.
Esteban Ocon 7/10
Sprint race finish: DNF; Qualifying: 8th – Race: 7th
Ocon was unlucky to be taken out of the Sprint, but a stoic drive to seventh whilst vomiting inside his helmet was gusty and secured good points for Alpine.
Valtteri Bottas 7.5/10
Sprint race finish: 10th; Qualifying: 9th – Race: 8th
A welcome return to the points and Q3 for Bottas, who gambled by stopping early and was duly rewarded with his joint-best finish of 2023.
Zhou Guanyu 6.5/10
Sprint race finish: 14th; Qualifying: 20th – Race: 9th
Zhou’s qualifying left him plenty to do in the race, but he paid back his team’s efforts by staying out longer and scoring two points.
Sergio Perez 3/10
Sprint race finish: DNF; Qualifying: 13th [started from the pitlane] – Race: 10th
Another poor showing for Perez as another Q2 exit followed a DNF in the Sprint. He then wrecked his podium chances by picking up two five-second time penalties for track limit infringements.
Lance Stroll 2.5/10
Sprint race finish: 15th; Qualifying: 17th – Race: 11th
Stroll looked as though he didn’t want to be anywhere near the paddock, and his results reflected his mood with a fourth consecutive Q1 exit and non-score in the race.
Pierre Gasly 5/10
Sprint race finish: 9th; Qualifying: 7th – Race: 12th
Fine lines cost Gasly in Qatar, but he only had himself to blame after breaching track limits twice before being caught napping by both Stroll and Perez, dropping him out of the points.
Alex Albon 6.5/10
Sprint race finish: 7th; Qualifying: 14th – Race: 13th
Despite Williams’ lack of pace, Albon extracted the maximum from the weekend, driving a stellar race in the Sprint to go from 17th to seventh, salvaging some reward.
Kevin Magnussen 3.5/10
Sprint race finish: 13th; Qualifying: 19th – Race: 14th
Not the birthday present Magnussen had hoped for coming into Qatar, as Haas’ pace woes meant it would be another innocuous weekend trailing at the back.
Yuki Tsunoda 5/10
Sprint race finish: 11th; Qualifying: 11th – Race: 15th
AlphaTauri’s lack of speed and staying out too long meant Tsunoda would finish out of the points once again through no fault of his own.
Nico Hulkenberg 4/10
Sprint race finish: DNF; Qualifying: 15th – Race: 16th
Hulkenberg wasn’t at fault for his DNF in the Sprint after being sandwiched by Ocon and Perez, but his 10-second time penalty in the race for starting in the incorrect position was a clumsy error.
Liam Lawson 4/10
Sprint race finish: DNF; Qualifying: 18th – Race: 17th
It’s a pity Losail was Lawson’s worst showing in his five-race cameo for AlphaTauri as a spin in the Sprint, followed by only his second Q1 exit, meant he came away from Qatar with nothing.
Logan Sargeant 3.5/10
Sprint race finish: DNF; Qualifying: 16th – Race: DNF
Sargeant struggled in Losail, missing out on Q2 again before spinning out of the Sprint on Lap 4. Illness caused by the extreme heat ended an innocuous race early.
Lewis Hamilton 6/10
Sprint race finish: 5th; Qualifying: 3rd – Race: DNF
It was an up-and-down weekend for Hamilton as a good drive in the Sprint was offset by him chopping across Russell at the start, ending his race after a few hundred yards.
Carlos Sainz 6/10
Sprint race finish: 6th; Qualifying: 12th – Race: DNS
Sainz struggled for pace in qualifying but salvaged some points in the Sprint. Sadly, a fuel system issue ended his race before it even started.
