2024 F1 Mexico City Grand Prix driver ratings

The 2024 F1 Mexico City Grand Prix provided two perfect 10s in RacingNews365’s driver ratings – as Max Verstappen scored low. 

Round 20 of the season was a real hit-and-miss affair for some drivers with drastic performance swings through the field. But who are the two drivers to top the ranking?

And just where does that horror show from Sergio Perez leave him?

Find out below!

The top 5

Carlos Sainz – 10 

A dominant weekend throughout qualifying and the race, and was not troubled after passing Verstappen with minimal fuss. The strongest performance in his F1 career, and one that must make Red Bull wonder if it made a mistake in keeping Sergio Perez and not making a move for Sainz.

Kevin Magnussen – 10

Seventh place in both qualifying and the race was better than Magnussen could have expected – with the drive in the race particularly outstanding to hold off the late charge from Oscar Piastri to retain seventh. Best result since the 2022 Bahrain GP as Haas continues to make moves. 

Pierre Gasly – 8 

Gasly should not have made Q3 in a car that is currently ninth in the standings and had not scored a point since the Dutch GP – but he maximised the failures of Perez and Piastri to start eighth. Piastri passing was expected and to be beaten by Nico Hulkenberg was a down mark, but he still bagged a valuable point at a track where Alpine-Renault has struggled in the past. Also comprehensively out-performed his team-mate.

Lando Norris – 8 

Did nothing wrong in either of those incidents with Verstappen and did well in the closing stages to hunt down and ultimately force a mistake from Charles Leclerc to nab second. Could have maybe won without Verstappen’s irritation, but loses a mark after being out-qualified by the Dutchman.

Lewis Hamilton – 7.5

Remarkably, fourth was Hamilton’s best result since winning the Belgian GP in July on a solid, if not outright spectacular weekend. Perhaps took a tad too long to get past a damaged sister Mercedes, but pulled away nicely for a solid result.

The bottom 5

Oscar Piastri – 4.5 

Marks are given back for his strong climb through the field to eighth, but that should have been seventh had he passed Magnussen. Damage was done with 17th in qualifying, leaving him all too much to do. Form is dipping just when McLaren is coming under threat from Ferrari.

Franco Colapinto – 4

A scrappy weekend for Colapinto who was dumped in Q1 whilst Alex Albon made Q3. His race was nothing special until the late contact with Liam Lawson that earned him a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points. A character-building weekend.

Yuki Tsunoda – 4

All was going well until Q2 when he crashed the RB at Turn 12. Perhaps a little unlucky to be the unwitting victim of Gasly squeezing Albon to trigger the Turn 1 accident.

Max Verstappen – 3.5

After limited practice running, did well to get within striking distance of Sainz on the front row and made a customary strong launch and getaway. Then it all went wrong. Branded “dangerous” by Norris for the twin moves on lap 10, it was driving unbefitting of a triple world champion – and costly as Norris took 10 points out of him. One to forget.

Sergio Perez – 2 

The ranking that generated the most debate. It was a dreadful weekend, nearly 1.5s slower than Verstappen on the first Q1 laps, and 18th on the grid. Proceeded to make a good start, the saving grace to climb to 13th (albeit making two places due to Tsunoda and Albon’s retirements). Then found to have made a false start by parking too far forward in his box. Did well to climb through the field, before the unnecessary spat with Lawson that damaged the car. Time is surely up.