Round 13: Netherlands
F1i's driver of the weekend: Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 9.5/10
To the delight of his home fans, Max Verstappen equalled Sebastian Vettel's all-time record of nine consecutive race wins in F1. He had to overcome a late downpour at Zandvoort in the process which meant it was by no means just another romp for Red Bull. He started from pole but lost the lead when the rain fell which meant his F1i rating for the race was capped at 9.5 ahead of Alonso and Albon on 9.0 apiece, while Perez looked set for second until a late second downpour saw him run off reducing his rating to 7.0.
"A third successive Dutch Grand Prix victory, and a record-equalling ninth race win in a row, all in front of a fervently adoring orange army of home fans at Zandvoort," we concluded in the ratings.
"But for once, Max Verstappen was made to work for it, even though the outcome was never really in doubt. He was quickest in first practice but pipped by Lando Norris in FP2 by a slender 0.023s. Verstappen was back in charge for final practice this time ahead of George Russell, and when it came to qualifying there was no question of who would take pole - but Norris and Russell were again his nearest challengers.
"The line-up was disrupted when rain started to fall right at the start of he race on Sunday: Verstappen delayed a lap too long before pitting for intermediates by which time Norris and Russell were out of the picture and instead Perez was in the lead having started from P7. However the Mexican didn't have anything like the same pace as his team mate, and Verstappen pitted first for a return to slicks which allowed him to undercut the Mexican and retake the lead which he held for the rest of the race, even when the rain resumed and forced a red flag followed by a six-lap dash to the finish.
"He would have kept a wary eye on Fernando Alonso at the restart but in the end everyone played nice and were all big pals as they celebrated on the podium. Of course, there was no question about who the orange-glad fans in the grandstand were cheering and singing their support for. And no, it wasn't McLaren."
Round 14: Italy
F1i's driver of the weekend: Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 9.5/10
Max Verstappen became the first driver in F1 history to score ten back-to-back victories in a season, dashing Ferrari hopes of a home win with a peerless performance at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Carlos Sainz started on pole and battled valiantly to stay in front but ultimately gave way on lap 15, and subsequently also lost out to Sergio Perez who made it a Red Bull 1-2.
The headlines at the time gave Verstappen a 'perfect ten' but we perversely found a way not to do the same in the Monday ratings. Instead he tied with Sainz on 9.5 in the original ratings, but the tie break vote simply had to go to the Dutch driver on this occasion.
"It would be suitably poetic to score Max Verstappen ten out of ten for his tenth consecutive Grand Prix win, but we can't quite give him the perfect mark this week," we explained, sounding slightly defensive to our ears even after all these months. "For much of the weekend he was on the back foot and struggling to match Sainz, which is a very rare situation for Emperor Maximus to be in this season.
"Of course it all came good in the end, and he had a comfortable albeit not huge margin over the field by the end of the race despite a late-race gremlin. However it does leave him ever so slightly short of the perfect ten in the ratings. We doubt he'll mind all that much."
