F1 Driver Ratings: 2024 Italian Grand Prix

The fastest grand prix of the season delivered another fascinating and unpredictable race as 2024 continues to provide entertaining and enthralling racing.

An unlikely winner, the world champions struggling and even a driver making their grand prix debut made this a particularly interesting weekend when it comes to assessing the 20 drivers.

But unsurprisingly, there was one who was outstanding above all others. Here are the RaceFans driver ratings for the Italian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen – 6/10

There was never any realistic hope of Verstappen challenging for a podium in Monza and certainly not the win. But although the Red Bull was not close to being the fastest package of the weekend, Verstappen’s usual ‘X-factor’ ability to still somehow pull outstanding results did not appear to work this weekend. He could not emulate his best Q2 time when it mattered most and did not gain any positions at the start by overtaking. Although he was hamstrung by limited power in the race, he just seemed unable to do anything to challenge those ahead of him. At least he managed to keep ahead of Russell in the final laps and was his team’s strongest driver, as ever.

Sergio Perez – 5/10

Red Bull had their most underwhelming showing since the Monaco Grand Prix, yet Perez actually had a better result in Monza than he had in several earlier rounds when the car was far stronger. As ever, he was the slower of the team’s two drivers but closer to Verstappen than he has been at several points this season. Although Red Bull were probably the fourth fastest team in Italy, his team might have hoped that he would have been able to be more of a challenge for Russell, given the problems the Mercedes driver had early on.

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Lewis Hamilton – 6/10

Heading into qualifying, Hamilton was looking as though he might be the favourite for the rest of the weekend. But things did not pan out that way as, again, Hamilton came away from a qualifying session unhappy with his result. He made up for it with a better showing in the race and it would have been interesting to see where he might have ended up had Mercedes followed Ferrari in one-stopping. But fifth place was still a decent result, even if it was lower than Hamilton and Mercedes would have hoped for heading into Sunday.

George Russell – 6/10

Russell would have naturally been disappointed to come away with just six points from Monza after starting third on the grid. But even though the end result was nothing to cheer about, he still showed some fighting spirit across the weekend. A great qualifying session but him in a strong position, but he cost himself several places by misjudging his braking into turn one and then lost more time damaging his front wing when he clipped Verstappen. It’s difficult to know where he might have been without that, but it’s difficult to blame anyone else for being in that position.

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Charles Leclerc – 8/10

An excellent drive that will likely be remembered as one of his best race victories. Leclerc brilliantly executed a one-stop strategy to outsmart the faster McLarens and secure his second race victory of the season to delight his team and the Tifosi. A strong qualifying, a good opening lap to move up to second, then consistent and controlled pace throughout the rest of race opened up the door for Leclerc to take an unexpected victory. One that was richly deserved.

Carlos Sainz Jnr – 7/10

In weekend where all the focus was on the McLarens, Red Bulls and then his team mate, Sainz was easy to overlook through all of it. He virtually matched Leclerc’s best time in Q3 and did good work to extend his opening stint, then played a not insignificant role in leading Ferrari to commit to the one-stop with both cars. Finishing fourth was a very strong result that he could be satisfied with for his last race in Italy for Ferrari. It’s just that his team mate was even stronger.

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Lando Norris – 6/10

After a commanding victory just a week prior in Zandvoort, Norris did not make the most of his opportunities in Monza and once again failed to convert a pole into a victory. Although he successfully held the lead into the first corner this time, he was simply out-manoeuvred by his team mate at the second chicane, which ultimately decided his race. He was by no means bad as he drove on to finish third, but if he truly wants to somehow chase down Verstappen for an unlikely championship victory, he knows he needs to be better than this.

Oscar Piastri – 7/10

After a disappointing weekend last time out in Zandvoort, Piastri may have come away from Monza frustrated to have lost the win, but at least he had turned things around from the previous round. Despite missing out on pole on Saturday, Piastri pulled off a brave but brilliant pass on his team mate into the second chicane to take the lead and looked like he was on for victory number two until McLaren were outfoxed by Ferrari. Still, he could take solace from the fact that he had not lost the race, but that Leclerc had simply gone out and won it.

Fernando Alonso – 6/10

Alonso had a decent weekend in Monza where he seemed to always be just on the verge of something better. Perhaps he would have scored a point had he committed to a two-stop strategy, but being just a tenth of a second away from a top ten finish, it’s hard not to agonise over any small error over the 53 laps that could have made the difference between a point and 11th place at the end.

Lance Stroll – 4/10

After some positive performances leading up to the summer break and in Zandvoort, Stroll had a slightly peculiar weekend in Monza. While Alonso was on the cusp of Q3 on Saturday and a tenth away from a point on Sunday, Stroll was just not able to match his team mate’s performance. His weekend was summed up best when he pitted in the final laps for soft tyres in an attempt to set the fastest lap, only to post the eighth-best time of the race with them.

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Pierre Gasly – 6/10

Monza was not Alpine’s best circuit of the season and it showed as Gasly never looked like a contender for the top ten as he had achieved the week prior in Zandvoort. However, he was the quicker of the two Alpine drivers in qualifying, but the two stop strategy was the inferior one in the grand prix and he was the one who was unlucky enough to get it on Sunday. Given that he still finished so close to his team mate, it seems fair to say the honours were even for this weekend.

Esteban Ocon – 6/10

Ocon would not have been thrilled about finishing 14th in Monza, but on a weekend where Alpine were not at their fastest, he could be pretty satisfied with the job he did. He beat team mate Gasly on both Saturday and Sunday and executed a one-stop strategy starting on hard tyres with skill. Although he did not have the tools to attack cars ahead of him, there was no shame in finishing where he started.

Alexander Albon – 7/10

Although Williams have tried to build a car that performs well at all kinds of circuits, rather than just low-downforce tracks, Monza was always going to be one of the team’s best opportunities for points all season. Albon converted that opportunity with a very good performance over the Monza weekend. He always looked in contention for a top ten across the weekend and did a great job to stay within ten seconds of Magnussen while also staying out of reach of Leclerc. One of his best weekends of the season, but his Williams was always likely to be strong at this circuit.

Franco Colapinto – 7/10

Welcome to Formula 1, Franco Colapinto. Williams jettisoned Logan Sargeant to replace him with their junior driver, who immediately showed why his team had deemed him worthy of an opportunity. His qualifying performance was not great, as he admitted, but for his first grand prix in a car he barely knows, Colapinto put in a performance he can always be proud of, gaining six places and running at a comparable pace to team mate Albon. A very solid start to his nine-race stint in the world championship.

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Yuki Tsunoda – 5/10

A weekend to forget for Tsunoda in Italy. He never seemed comfortable with his car with RB’s new upgrades for their home grand prix and was frustrated to be knocked out of Q1. But he would have been far more annoyed about being taken out of the race on Sunday as there was little he could do about Hulkenberg clattering into him. He could not continue with the damage and became the only retirement from the race.

Daniel Ricciardo – 6/10

Ricciardo had a decent weekend, for the most part. He looked more comfortable than his team mate over the three days even if – or maybe because – he didn’t get his team’s new parts for the weekend. He cost himself by earning a fair penalty on the opening lap, but the second penalty that dropped him to 13th was not his fault. He successfully pulled off the longest stint of the race, and would probably have earned a higher rating without his opening lap mishap.

Valtteri Bottas – 6/10

A solid weekend from Bottas once again despite his car giving him little to work with even around the relatively few corners at Monza. He was, again, the clear best of the two Sauber drivers over the weekend and finished higher than he started. However, given that he gained one place from a retirement, one from a penalty and one from a driver pitting in the final laps, his result likely flattered him.

Zhou Guanyu – 5/10

After being significantly slower than his team mate the previous weekend at Zandvoort, Zhou was much closer to Bottas’s performance in Monza – just still slower than him. It’s hard to judge him too harshly as he remains in the slowest car in the field and he made no notable errors over the weekend, but Zhou continues to fail to stand out when he needs to if he is to remain racing in F1 into the future.

Nico Hulkenberg – 5/10

A decent start to the weekend for Hulkenberg but a sloppy end. Once again, Hulkenberg spearheaded Haas’ charge in qualifying to reach Q3 for the seventh time this season. He was not at fault for being pushed wide by Ricciardo on lap one, but his poorly-judged pass on Tsunoda in the opening laps was one of his worst moments of the year so far. That one moment ended any remaining hopes for his race and undid a lot of the otherwise strong work he had done.

Kevin Magnussen – 6/10

It feels strange to be awarding a positive rating for a driver who received a ban from the next race for an incident that occurred during the grand prix and even more so for a driver who had a pretty untidy weekend overall in Monza. But despite his practice crash, his inability to follow his team mate into Q3 and his avoidable clash with Gasly in the race, Magnussen was actually one of the better performers in the race. He made good use of his one-stop strategy and managed to cling onto a point by a slender margin after his penalty was applied. He will get an unscheduled weekend off for Baku.

Over to you

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