Round 7: Spain
F1i's driver of the weekend: Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 10/10
It was a quiet, uncomplicated day at the office for Max Verstappen who secured his 40th career victory and fifth of the season with little difficulty in the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix earning himself a perfect 10 in the ratings. It was a good afternoon for Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell both earning a 9.0 rating as they held onto the podium, but a disappointing one for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz (8.0) dropping to P5 and Charles Leclerc (5.0) unable to fight back into the points from a pit lane start.
"We've tried to hold off garlanding Verstappen with perfect ten after perfect ten, because once you start going down that road it's very hard to stop," he pointed out at the time. "But this week there's simply no alternative than to declare perfection.
"Verstappen was fastest in all three practice sessions, and then claimed pole position by almost half a second from his nearest rival Carlos Sainz. His biggest problem came at the start of the race when he was on medium tyres and Sainz had the advantage of the faster soft compound, but Verstappen had it all mapped out and made sure that the Ferrari found no way past him into the first corner. After that it was pretty much plain sailing, although he was perturbed by the handling of the hard tyres during the second stint and relieved to make a second pit stop to don a pair of softs for the final laps.
"He seemed genuinely bemused when told he was being cited for exceeding track limits, but telling Max to calm down and take it easy is like holding a red rag to a, err, Red Bull, and that made him only more determined to push for the bonus point for fastest lap. By the time he was done he was 24s ahead of Lewis Hamilton and the rest of the field, a simply remarkable achievement in this day and age of 'level playing field' F1.
"A truly stunning, remarkable weekend's work for the reigning world champion, There's absolutely nothing that we can find fault with - this time, at least!"
Round 8: Canada
F1i's driver of the weekend: Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) - 9.5/10
Another comfortable victory for Verstappen whose 41st career win equaled Ayrton Senna's tally and delivered Red Bull its 100th F1 victory. Alonso lost second place to Hamilton at the start, but fought back to retake the position from the Mercedes driver mid-race. It's for that reason we're giving Alonso the Driver of the Weekend nod in Canada, despite the fact he tied for points with Verstappen with Hamilton tied for third with Williams' Alex Albon on 9.0.
"Alonso didn't let his boss down with a very strong performance throughout the weekend," we wrote. "He was in the top four in all three practice sessions, and carried on in the same vein in qualifying.
"He was somewhat miffed to be pipped to the front row by Nico Hulkenberg when just four seconds more before the Q3 red flag would have seen him go P2. The stewards stepped in with a penalty for the Haas that promoted Alonso to second, but he might have wished it hadn't: it left him on the 'dirty' side of the grid for Sunday's start, and he was quickly overtaken by Lewis Hamilton in the run down to the first corner.
"It was soon clear that the Aston was quicker than the Mercedes, but Alonso is old enough and wise enough to know when to hold back, and when to pounce, so it wasn't until lap 22 that he took the place back with the help of DRS. After that he just made sure to counter any moves Hamilton made, while watching Max Verstappen disappear off into the distance ahead. It was in every sense the very best and all he could do this week."
