Max Verstappen (P2, 18 pts): 8.5/10
Max Verstappen spun off into the barriers on his way from pit lane to take up his position on the grid, and his F1i rating for this weekend would have been profoundly different if not for the minor miracle achieved by the Red Bull mechanics working at fever pitch to repair the damage. Up to then it had been a poor weekend by the team's standards: a lowly eighth quickest on Friday, and just a couple of places better in final practice, Verstappen could only manage seventh on the grid for the race itself. It was only when the RB16 was repaired in time for the start of the race did things finally come together for Max, getting an excellent start to jump straight up to third place and then swiftly dispatching Lance Stroll to take up his now familiar second place behind the race leader, invariably in a Mercedes, which on this occasion was Lewis Hamilton. There was never anything Verstappen could do about that and all his energies were directed at holding on to second ahead of a charging Valtteri Bottas, which he managed by just three quarters of a second at the line. One more lap and it would have been a different story!
Lewis Hamilton (Pole position, P1, Fastest lap, 26 pts): 10/10
By and large we're not keen on handing out a perfect ten out of ten rating to anyone: it's almost always possible to pick out a misstep there, an error here, or simply something that the driver could have done better over the course of the weekend. But as deep as we dug into Lewis Hamilton is just wasn't possible to find that chink in the armour of the reigning world champion this week. After a troubled start to the 2020 season (was that only two weeks ago?) he was back to his most imperious best at the Hungaroring, a track he knows well and loves to bits. He was fastest on Friday but only by 0.086s, suggesting that his team mate might still be in with a chance of catching him. Sure enough Valtteri Bottas came out on top in final practice, but such impertinence wouldn't be allowed to happen again. Hamilton surprisingly lost out to the Racing Points in the first round of qualifying but that was of little import, and when it came down to the sharp end of business Hamilton simply turned up the volume, drowned out the opposition and took control. After that the race itself could hardly have gone any better, the outcome never in doubt. Leading for all but one lap and then cheekily pitting for soft tyres at the end in a successful bid to scoop up the point for fastest lap, it was a virtuoso performance by anyone's standards.
