Team Ratings: Bottas gives Mercedes a better score than Red Bull

F1 News

13 September 2021 at 19:55
  • GPblog.com

Last weekend in Monza was of course not only the weekend of the crash of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. It was also the weekend of McLaren and not the weekend of AlphaTauri. But what are the numbers for the teams after the weekend in Italy?

McLaren: 10

McLaren had an excellent weekend, especially thanks to the crash of Verstappen and Hamilton. Daniel Ricciardo won the race after the incident between the two leaders in the world championship, while teammate Lando Norris drove to second place. It doesn't get much better than that for a weekend, especially for McLaren.

Williams: 8

Had another fine weekend. This time not both cars finished in the top ten, but with George Russell on P9 and Nicholas Latifi on P11, we can still speak of a strong weekend for the British team. The eighth spot in the Constructors' Championship is now even more firmly in the hands of Williams. Alfa Romeo is now 19 points behind them.

Mercedes: 6.5

Mercedes did not have a bad weekend in Monza. Valtteri Bottas took pole position on Friday and won the sprint race the following day, while Lewis Hamilton qualified second for Saturday's sprint race. However, the Briton had a poor start to Sunday's sprint race, leaving him fourth on the grid. Bottas took a penalty after replacing his engine and started from the back of the grid on Sunday. The Finn would eventually finish the race neatly in third place, while Hamilton of course couldn't finish the race and thus scored no points. As with Verstappen, Hamilton's pit stop before his crash was also very slow.

Ferrari: 8

The red car was in the top ten all weekend, finishing fourth and sixth during the race. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz only finished here because Verstappen and Hamilton dropped out in front of them. It was a nice weekend in terms of results, but rival McLaren did pull away from the battle for third in the Constructors' Championship.

Alpine: 6

Alpine and Aston Martin sat just outside the top-ten throughout the weekend, watching other teams battle it out for points. Thanks to Verstappen and Hamilton dropping out of the race, Alpine still managed to score points with two cars. Esteban Ocon finished tenth, Fernando Alonso eighth. A good weekend for the blue cars, which mainly benefited from mistakes made by other drivers.

Aston Martin: 5

Aston Martin, a competitor of Alpine, just missed out on points with its second car. Lance Stroll drove a good race and finished seventh, but Sebastian Vettel had to settle for P12. Just outside the points, so the lead of competitor Alpine only increases. However, the gap with the other competitor, AlphaTauri, has decreased: 25 points.

Red Bull: 3.5

Red Bull saw Verstappen retire again after a crash with Hamilton, with the only advantage this time being that neither driver scored any points. However, the team made a mistake with the Dutchman's long pit stop before that. Sergio Perez had to fight his way back into the race after a poor Friday and Saturday, and he did so well. The Mexican finished fifth, two places behind competitor Bottas who started from last.

Alfa Romeo: 5.5

The Italian team could have scored some good points with Antonio Giovinazzi. The Italian had a good Friday and an excellent Saturday but saw his weekend go up in smoke on Sunday. He spun at the start of the race and lost his front wing. After an early pit stop the Italian had to settle for 13th place. Robert Kubica was not in form all weekend and had to settle for P14. All in all, not a good weekend, especially compared to competitor Williams.

Haas: 4.5

Yes, well. The young drivers at Haas only race each other every weekend, and last weekend things went wrong every now and then. Especially during the race. Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin will not be better friends after this weekend. Mazepin couldn't finish the race, Schumacher finished fifteenth.

AlphaTauri: 1

Not a great weekend for AlphaTauri. Especially Yuki Tsunoda didn't have a great weekend on Friday and Saturday. Pierre Gasly however proved to be fast again at Monza, just like last year. Both cars couldn't start the race on Sunday though due to mechanical problems. No points for the Italian team, which sees Alpine losing out in this way.