Round 3: Australia
F1i's driver of the weekend: Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 9.5/10
Max Verstappen overcame some early teething problems and survived a disastrous accident-strewn late red flag restart to deliver a third successive Red Bull victory in 2023 with a win over Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, while Fernando Alonso continued his run of podium appearances for Aston Martin with third place despite being involved in a collision with Carlos Sainz at the final restart.
Verstappen was unquestionably the top driver in Australia with 9.5, with Alonso on 9.0. That meant Alonso tied with George Russell despite the Mercedes retiring after 18 laps with a power unit issue (remember, our ratings are given for the entire weekend, not just race day). Russell's team mate Lewis Hamilton earned an 8.5 rating for his battling podium finish after a restart pile-up.
"Verstappen was really not happy to miss out on victory in Saudi Arabia, and appeared positively affronted by Perez having the temerity not to meekly pull over by the side of the road and let him catch up and pass" we wrote at the time. "Verstappen's determination not to be second again this weekend was so clear that you wouldn't have been surprised to hear April Fools rumours that he'd been spotted lurking in the Red Bull garage on Friday night wielding a wrench around the back of Perez' car prior to final practice and qualifying.
"While the Mexican's weekend went off the rails on Saturday, Verstappen was looking serene throughout with the top time in FP1 and FP3, and then commanding all three rounds of qualifying to secure pole albeit by only 0.236s from Mercedes' George Russell - a tighter margin than many had predicted.
"Russell continued to be the fly in Red Bull's creamy ointment on Sunday when he seized the lead at the start of the race (and Lewis Hamilton followed through to snatch second) but these were temporary glitches as far as Verstappen was concerned. He was back in the lead on lap 12 and quickly out of DRS range.
"There was a slight moment of carelessness when he stayed off the road in the closing stages, but that sort of thing is no big deal when you have an 11s lead. The biggest worry was when Kevin Magnussen's accident meant another restart - the starts were not Verstappen's forté today - but on this occasion he aced his final exam and pulled away from the mayhem behind him to confirm his 37th F1 career victory."
Round 4: Azerbaijan
F1i's driver of the weekend: Sergio Perez (Red Bull) - 9.5 /10
Sergio Perez claimed his second win of 2023 despite Verstappen taking an early lead with a pass on pole sitter Charles Leclerc, only to lose out with the timing of an early safety car. Perez was more fortunate and inherited the lead, which he then retained for the rest of the afternoon despite Verstappen's best efforts. Perez and Leclerc were tied in our ratings at the time with Verstappen only on 8.5. The fact Perez won both the race and the sprint tips the final decision in his favour.
We wrote: "It was a very impressive weekend for Perez, who'd set himself the objective of earning maximum points in Baku to make up for the disappointment of Melbourne. And that's exactly what he achieved, with impressive fault-free victories in both the sprint race and the Grand Prix earning him the title of current street circuit king of F1.
"The only thing stopping him from getting a perfect ten from us this week is the fact that he didn't manage to top practice, the sprint showdown or qualifying, but he was always right there in the mix in the top three in every session. Perhaps Perez' most impressive moment over the weekend was the way he managed the race on Sunday following the restart, pulling away from Verstappen and Leclerc without cooking his tyres in the process and then ensuring that his team mate stayed firmly out of DRS range.
"Not only did it mean Verstappen couldn't present a threat on track, it also meant there was no possibility of a call from the Red Bull pit wall for team orders to be invoked. There was simply no arguing with Checo when it came the race track this weekend."
