(Motorsport-Total.com) – How should one evaluate Max Verstappen‘s performance after the Formula 1 race in the USA? Rarely have opinions differed as much as they did with the Dutchman in Austin, who ultimately took fifth place in the overall ranking of all three pillars in the Motorsport-Total.com rankings.
Lando Norris (McLaren MCL38) at the Formula 1 race in Austin 2024″ alt=”Photo for the news: Grades Austin: Big discrepancy “harten Manövern” von Verstappen!” width=”1200″ height=”900″/>
Max Verstappen’s performance in Austin was controversial Zoom Download
The editors gave the world champion an A – albeit a controversial one – for his victory in the sprint, his strong performance in the qualifying sessions and his courageous race in which he overcame World Championship rival Lando Norris. Because not every editor agreed with the top grade due to the driving style.
Expert Marc Surer decided on a 2: “The victory in the sprint and a near pole give a 1. But two hard maneuvers against Lando were too much,” he judges.
And the latter in particular seems to have been resented by many fans. Verstappen was clearly penalized by the more than 500 readers who took part in the vote: he didn’t get above a mediocre rating of 2.73, making him only the seventh best driver.
In the daily standings, he ended up behind the two Ferrari drivers, who, like in the Grand Prix, tied for the first two places. Leclerc was the only driver to receive a 1 from both the editorial team and the experts (Surer: “He got the chance and used it without making a mistake. Impressive!”) and was also clearly ahead among the readers with a score of 1.32.
For Leclerc, who also won the official voting, it was the third day’s victory this season after Monaco and Monza, which brings him within 52 points of the top duo Max Verstappen/Lando Norris.
After Singapore, Norris came within six points of the winner of the last three years, but lost four points again with seventh place in Austin. “He was pushed off the track twice by Max. But he’s not strong enough in a duel either,” says Surer and gives him the 2 – just like the editorial team. However, readers rated him better than Verstappen with a score of 2.41.
Two rookies were surprisingly strong in Austin: Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto took third and fourth place behind the Ferraris. Both received a 2 from the editorial team and a 1 from Surer. In the end, the readers decided 1.97 to 2.10 in favor of the New Zealander.
“Give your teammate a slipstream in qualifying and show what the car can do in the race,” says Surer, praising Lawson’s drive from 19th on the grid to ninth.
At the other end of the spectrum, the editorial team in Austin gave it a grade of 5 four times: to Alexander Albon, Guanyu Zhou, Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton; Surer also gave it to Lance Stroll in addition to Hamilton and Bottas.
In the daily rankings, former world champion Hamilton took last place after his early departure. “He couldn’t cope on a route that he normally likes,” Surer wonders. According to the readers, the Mercedes driver was only second to last ahead of Zhou, who was saved from the red lantern by Surers 3.
To click through: This is how Surer rated the 20 drivers!
How Marc Surer grades the other drivers is now available in one expanded photo series read in detail. In this photo series, both the Formula 1 expert and the editorial team explain their grades for each of the 20 drivers individually. Hopefully, users will now be able to better understand how the driver scores were achieved.
Photo series: Austin: The driver scores from Marc Surer and the editorial team
Valtteri Bottas (Marc Surer: 5) – “Praises the new front wing, but doesn’t drive a bit faster.”
Photo series
By the way: Many users would like the editorial team to be more transparent when assigning grades. Which is why we decided to publish our editors’ individual grades in a separate table. For the overall editorial grade, which makes up Pillar 3 of the system, the editorial team agrees on a common full grade in a conference.
In this conference, which has become a regular item on our program every Monday morning after Formula 1, things sometimes get heated when different opinions collide. And we collect arguments that speak for or against a better or worse grade.
How we assign our grades
Die Idea behind our grading is to rate the performance on a weekend and especially in the race with grades (1 = Very good, 6 = Unsatisfactory). The aim is to ignore external influences that the drivers cannot control themselves. And so that it is not just the editorial team that evaluates subjectively, as is the case with football magazines, we have created three equal pillars with the readers and the expert.
And this is how we calculate:
From the average rating of Motorsport-Total.com users, the rating by Expert Marc Surer and the grading by our editorial team, we determine the average. Our driver ranking results from this average value. We only show one decimal place, but we use all decimal places for the calculation. These partially invisible decimal places determine the order in which two drivers are ranked in the event of a supposed tie.
The grades of the individual editors:
We are often asked how our editorial grades come about. All editors on our Formula 1 team first submit their grades individually. In an editorial conference on the morning after the Grand Prix, we discuss this and agree on common editorial grades, which usually (but not always) reflect the average of the individual editor grades. When determining editorial grades, there is sometimes heated debate. The aim is to agree on common driver grades that every editor can agree with.
Driver of the Year Award:
Based on the overall grades of a race weekend, we distribute points for the 2024 annual ranking. Analogous to the points system in the real Formula 1 World Championship, the winner receives 25 points, the second 18, the third 15 – up to one point for 10th place. There is no bonus point for the fastest lap. After the end of the season, the driver with the highest points will be awarded the Motorsport-Total.com Award for Driver of the Year 2024.
