Feature

F1i's Driver Ratings for the 2023 Belgian GP

©McLaren

Oscar Piastri (SP2, GP DNF lap 1 - Accident damage, 7 pts): 8.5/10
Oscar Piastri lamented a lack of F1 experience at Spa when he finished qualifying in sixth place, but he's a quick study and the following morning he popped the McLaren onto the front row in the Showdown. He then dazzled at the start of the Sprint when he pounced and took the lead from Max Verstappen - briefly, at least. The Red Bull was soon in charge again but Piastri hunkered down and made sure that no one challenged him for second place before the chequered flag came out. A very impressive performance. Sadly his qualifying disappointment came back to bite him on Sunday when he got squeezed into the hairpin at the start by Carlos Sainz and incurred terminal car damage before he could show what he was capable of. Arguably it was a silly mistake to try and slip down the inside of La Source, but let's not forget that he is, in fact, still just a rookie. A remarkable performance, all things considered.

Carlos Sainz (SP4, GP DNF lap 23 - Accident damage, 5 pts): 7/10
Carlos Sainz wasn't happy with his qualifying performance on Friday which saw him claim fifth place on the grid for the Grand Prix. He did better in the Showdown and took third, but lost out in the Sprint when he pitted at the start and found himself held up by all the other cars making the same choice crowding out pit lane. It gave Pierre Gasly, Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton the opportunity to get ahead of him, and while Hamilton was subsequently hit by a five second penalty for colliding with Perez, dropping the Mercedes down to seventh and forcing the Red Bull to retire, Sainz was unable to do anything about catching the Alpine for third in the remaining time. His Sunday was sadly short-lived after a crunching encounter with Oscar Piastri at La Source; while he tried to carry on, the damage to the Ferrari was ultimately too great and the team decided to park him on lap 23.

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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.