Feature

F1i's Driver Ratings for the 2021 Azerbaijan GP

Esteban Ocon (Retired, Lap 3): 7/10
A somewhat low-key weekend for Esteban Ocon, but that's by no means to say it had been a bad one - at least, not until his untimely exit. Before then he went about his work quietly and confidently, improving from 16th in FP1 to ninth on Friday afternoon and again in final practice, although the chaotic events in qualifying later in the day denied him a spot in the final round. It left him starting from 12th place behind Sebastian Vettel, who would go on to claim a podium in the race. Unfortunately Ocon never had a chance to show if he could do anything similar: after claiming an extra place with a pass on Lando Norris at the start, the car's power unit died on him just minutes later and he was forced to head to pit lane to retire, fortunately managing to do so without interrupting the race. And that sadly was it for the French driver this weekend.

Lance Stroll (Retired, Lap 30): 6/10
Lance Stroll was marooned outside the top ten throughout all three practice sessions and must have been worried about making the cut at the end of Q1. Unfortunately, in pushing so hard in qualifying he found the limit - and toppled straight over it. He locked up going into turn 15 but still attempted to make the corner, only to hit the barrier with a crunch. It left him starting the race from the back row, and he was put him on a set of the hard tyres to see how long they would last in the hope that a late first stop would help him move up the running order. It was going well right up until lap 29 by which point he was up to fourth - and then a tyre failed without warning and he suffered his second bruising accident of the weekend. But it wasn't his fault this time, and nothing he could do.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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