Aussie's perfect rating as stage set for epic F1 showdown

We're just over the half way point in the longest F1 season on record, and after two seasons of Red Bull domination, fans are being treated to a genuinely thrilling showdown.

While Max Verstappen probably has one hand already on the drivers title, McLaren are on course to take a shock constructors championship victory.

Oscar Piastri has taken his first win, Sergio Perez has continued to suck, and Ferrari has been its typical frustrating self.

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A week ahead of the resumption of the championship, Wide World of Sports has rated every driver and team's performance.

We'll go in reverse order of the constructors' standings.

SAUBER (F)

Constructors' standings: 10th (Points: 0)

The only team yet to score a point, Sauber have been without doubt the worst-performing team in 2024. After its car rolled out well in pre-season testing, hopes were high they might make a move up the midfield. They might've scored points in Bahrain, if not for dodgy wheel nuts costing them bucketloads of time in the pitstops. Since then, they've fallen well behind in the development race, and the Sauber is now comfortably the slowest car on the grid. If the upgrades the team are bringing to the next race don't work, they're no chance of improving later in the season.

The team will remain in its Sauber guise next season, before morphing into the factory Audi squad in 2026. Perhaps eyes within the team are focused well down the road.

Valtteri Bottas (D)

Drivers' standings: 21st (Points: 0)

Given how bad the car is, it's hard to rate the two Sauber driver's form. A winner of 10 grands prix, Bottas has had the measure of his teammate all season, but does have the dishonour of lying 21st in a championship where only 20 cars are competing.

Bottas looks likely to be out of a drive for 2025, so will be hoping for a stronger back half of the season to remain on the grid. He was linked with a move to Williams for a while before Carlos Sainz was announced. His partner is Australian cyclist Tiffany Cromwell, and the pair spend a significant amount of time in Australia. If he doesn't find a spot on the F1 grid, I wonder what he thinks about V8s?

Zhou Guanyu (D-)

19th (0)

His 11th at the season-opener in Bahrain is the team's best result of the season - and is the reason he sits higher in the driver standings - but he hasn't had a great season. He's behind 7-4 in the head-to-head, and he's being trounced 13-1 in qualifying. Zhou is the epitome of an also-ran this season.

Williams (D)

9th (4)

The Grove squad has been one of the biggest disappointments of 2024. They looked a chance to score points regularly last season, but have barely threatened the top-10 this season. They've scored 17 fewer points to the same time year-on-year, and given how few points are on offer at the back-end of the top-10, that's huge.

Alex Albon (B)

18th (4)

As he was last year, Alex Albon has been far and away the standout between the two Williams pilots, but it's clear he doesn't have the same car underneath him he did last season. Albon has beaten Sargeant to the checquered flag on every occasion they've both finished, and is yet to qualify slower than him for a grand prix. The team believe in him though, signing him on a multi-year deal that will keep him with the team until at least the end of 2026.

Logan Sargeant (D)

20th (0)

Look, Sargeant has improved somewhat this year. Instead of coming last by a lot, he's only coming last by a little.

That's probably harsh. He has taken a big step forward this season, but it took variable conditions at the British Grand Prix for him to even get a sniff at a points finish. His team principal James Vowles publicly backed him all season, but when Carlos Sainz came on the market, it was a no brainer for Williams to drop Sargeant. This will almost certainly be his final season in F1.

ALPINE (D-)

8th (11)

When you look at their results, its easy to forget Alpine are the rebadged factory team of the 15 per cent French state-owned Renault team. Their drivers crashed into each other in Monaco, which led to confirmation Esteban Ocon would leave at season's end, and they've had a team boss quit mid-season. Before that though, they welcomed back a renowned F1 cheat, Flavio Briatore.

Despite all that, they've somehow turned a car that was well overweight and comfortably the slowest on the grid in Bahrain into one that is often fighting for points. Imagine what the team could do if they were a harmonious bunch?

Esteban Ocon (D+)

17th (5)

He made a rod for his own back when he all but launched himself into the sea off teammate Gasly's wheel on the opening lap in Monaco. It triggered an extraordinary outburst from then-team boss Bruno Famin, with many expecting the Frenchman to be benched for the subsequent Canadian Grand Prix.

Monaco aside, the pair have been pretty evenly matched all season. Ocon is leading the pair 6-4 head-to-head on race results, and 10-4 on qualifying. Somehow though, that Monaco brain snap didn't end his F1 career. He has signed with Haas for 2025 and beyond.

Pierre Gasly (C-)

15th (6)

A little bit like his teammate, Gasly has been solid but unremarkable this season. Another also-ran. As the season has progressed, he's been constantly hanging around the tight midfield, and has been perhaps unlucky to only a pair of ninth place finishes as his only points for the season. He's remaining with Alpine for next season, and will be hoping the team can continue its strong development trend towards the end of the season.

HAAS (A-)

7th (27)

The team started the year breaking the hearts of many a Drive to Survive fan when it sacked popular team principal Guenther Steiner. But, the results since then have proven it was the right call. Under Ayao Komatsu, the team has fixed the tyre wear issue that had plagued the car the past two seasons, and has made a couple of good steps forward through development.

Their strategy team has also been exemplary. The decision to have Kevin Magnussen hold up the queue in Saudi Arabia to ensure Nico Hulkenberg remained in the points was the best example of that. Hopefully they can continue to perform later in the year and score more points.

Kevin Magnussen (C)

16th (5)

K-Mag is painfully unlucky to only have five points to his name. He's played the team game on several occasions, sacrificing his own race to help his teammate. The results of which have put him perilously close to a race ban, but that's a debate for another day. He's already been confirmed to have lost his seat for 2025 – and looks unlikely to sign anywhere else – so perhaps he won't be so willing to play that game later in the season.

Nico Hulkenberg (B)

11th (22)

There is little doubt the German has had his teammates measure all year, but he's also been the beneficiary of the team orders on just about every occasion. It means the 11-2 race and 11-3 qualifying head-to-heads probably paint a worse picture than is actually the case, but the fact Hulkenberg is generally qualifying much further up the grid doesn't help Magnussen's case.

Either way, Hulkenberg will also exit the squad at season's end and move to Sauber for 2025, which will become Audi. A German driving for a German brand, it's not hard to see why he wouldn't make the move.

RB (C-)

6th (34)

That RB lie sixth in the constructors standings isn't a surprise, but what is a surprise is how far behind the top-five it is, and also the relatively tight gap to Haas in seventh. RB have battled consistency through the front half of the season, and the upgrades its bolted on the car haven't brought about the expected performance boosts. They've also made some awful strategy calls - like the one to pit Daniel Ricciardo only seven laps into the Hungarian Grand Prix - which has likely cost them points. Their double-DNF in China while both drivers were in contention for points also didn't help.

Daniel Ricciardo (D)

13th (12)

It's been such an odd season for Daniel Ricciardo. He was far and away the leading RB driver at the back end of last season, but had no pace early in the season. The new chassis he was given in China brought about immediate improvement, but not to the level he would've been hoping. His gritty drive to fifth in the Miami sprint showed the Old Daniel is still there, and he's probably been the better of the two RB drivers in the past half a dozen races, but he realistically needs a massive finish to the year if he's to remain on the grid in 2025.

Yuki Tsunoda (B)

12th (22)

At the start of the season, most expected Tsunoda to be flogged by Daniel Ricciardo, but the reality has been quite the opposite. Sure, he didn't start the season particularly well by throwing a post-race temper tantrum, but in the races following he proved he was more than capable. Put together a run of five points finishes in six races between Australia and Monaco, but has only scored twice more since then.

ASTON MARTIN (E)

5th (73)

Yikes what a collapse Aston Martin are experiencing at the moment. Having started the season comfortably within the five fastest teams, it has once again been comfortably outpaced in the development race and is at times among the slowest cars on the grid. In Austria, neither driver looked close to scoring points. The team has scored less points through the 14 races this season to-date than they did in the first four races of 2023. If Alpine or RB get their act together in the back half of the year, they could be vulnerable.

Fernando Alonso (C)

9th (49)

Last year he was praising the team for building him one of the "best cars he's ever driven". A year on, the car seems far from it. Alonso has at times appeared incredibly frustrated by a lack of pace and a lack of improvement. Given he was a regular on the podium last season, and given he's a two-time world champion and the most experienced driver on the grid, it's unlikely the problem lies with the bloke holding the steering wheel.

Lance Stroll (D)

10th (24)

Stroll has been better in 2024, but it's difficult to believe there isn't a driver somewhere –currently on the grid or not – who could do a better job than the Canadian. Given the team's struggles with development, Aston Martin need someone who can give as detailed feedback as possible, which is something Stroll lacks. That he's the seventh most experienced driver on the grid, and still can't give the technical feedback the team needs is shocking. But, it seems as long as his dad, Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll owns the team, it seems inevitable Lance will remain at the wheel.

MERCEDES (B)

4th (266)

If it wasn't for McLaren, Mercedes would take the cake for the most improved team not just year-on-year, but also since the start of this year. When George Russell won the Austrian Grand Prix, it was the team's first win since Brazil in 2022. They've now won three of the past four races, and were the first two cars across the line in Belgium before Russell was disqualified. Mercedes started the year the fourth-fastest team, but have now leapfrogged Ferrari to have the third-fastest car.

Lewis Hamilton (A-)

6th (150)

Lewis Hamilton's win at the British Grand Prix was nothing short of poetic. His last home race for the team with whom he'd won six of his seven world championships, it ended a 945-day win drought that stretched back to the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Hamilton and Russell have been fairly evenly matched on-track, but Hamilton has consistently been better at eeking that tiny bit extra out of the car.

George Russell (B+)

8th (116)

George Russell has been mighty in qualifying all season, and was the one to end Mercedes win drought in Austria, albeit only after Lando Norris and Max Verstappen crashed. He took pole in Canada, and then again at his home race in Silverstone before his race was ended early by reliability. Although he's leading his more experienced teammate in head-to-head, Russell isn't quite at the same level as Hamilton. He'll become the senior driver at the team next season once Hamilton departs for Ferrari.

FERRARI (C-)

3rd (345)

Ferrari, like always are a head-scratcher. They started the year strongly, but have really fallen off in the six races since Charles Leclerc finally broke his Monaco duck. Somehow though, they're still third in the constructors championship and only 21 points behind McLaren. They were the second quickest car at the start of the season, but now appear to be the fourth-fastest. The team brought updates to Miami and Imola, neither of which appeared to deliver the outright performance boost they were hoping for. And as always, they've made a couple of strategy balls-ups that have cost them points. They're no doubt vulnerable to Mercedes in the constructors championship.

Charles Leclerc (C)

3rd (177)

How Leclerc sits third in the standings is a modern miracle. He was only 31 points off the lead after his win in Monaco, but has scored only 39 points in the six races since. Granted, he was dudded by a stereotypically Ferrari strategy call in the wet at Silverstone, and also reliability in Canada. His performance is probably more down to the team, who he'll need to lift towards the back end of the year.

Carlos Sainz (B)

5th (162)

Started the season as without a doubt the quicker of the two drivers. He was forced to sit out of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as he battled appendicitis, but famously returned in Melbourne to win the race. He had Leclerc's measure at the start of the year, but now trails on the head-to-head and also in the standings. Sainz has known he would be out of his seat at Ferrari for the whole year, but has struggled at times to show he's worthy of a front-running seat. Williams securing his signature is a big coup for the Grove side, and now that distraction is sorted out, Sainz will be keen to finish his tenure at Ferrari on a strong note.

McLAREN (A)

2nd (366)

Without doubt, McLaren are the stand-out performers of 2024. They arrived in Bahrain with the fourth fastest car, but after Belgium looks as if it had not only leapfrogged Ferrari and Mercedes, but maybe even Red Bull. Both drivers have won a race each, and without doubt had chances to win others. Oscar Piastri arguably could've won the British Grand Prix had they pitted the young Aussie when he wanted to, which was two laps before he did, and would've won in Austria had Max Verstappen not decided to drive Lando Norris off the road. There were a couple of other minor calls throughout the early part of the season that had they got right, would've given them a perfect A+ rating. Having not had a car genuinely capable of winning regularly since 2013, McLaren are having to re-learn how to win. If they get that right in the back half of this year, they could start 2025 as genuine challengers for the drivers and constructors championship. At the rate they're going, they'll win the constructors championship this year.

Lando Norris (B)

2nd (199)

That Lando Norris has still only won the one grand prix is somewhat shocking. He should've won in Austria, and finished second to Verstappen in China, Imola, Canada and Spain. Although the contact with Verstappen in Austria was ultimately the Dutchman's fault, some of Norris' driving in the lead up showed he doesn't quite have the mental strength yet to match Verstappen. Having said that, there are few that do.

As a side note, Norris is still the clear No.1 at McLaren, but with Oscar Piastri showing the form he is, that might not be the case for much longer.

Oscar Piastri (A+)

4th (167)

Perhaps its the Australian bias, but Oscar Piastri deserves a perfect rating. It's amazing he's is in only his second season of Formula 1. He's calm, he's fast, and at Hungary, he became a grand prix winner. The young Aussie is building a reputation as being completely unflappable. He's had only really the one off weekend so far this season in Spain, which given it is only his second year in the sport, can be forgiven.

His Achilles heel in 2023 was his tyre management, which has drastically improved year-on-year. That improvement is a testament to how hard he's working to understand exactly what the issue is, but also how to fix it. He's always there or thereabouts, and that he's scored the most points of any other driver (126), including Max Verstappen, in the last eight races is proof. The 23-year-old from Melbourne will win at least another race this year, if not multiple. Some will argue the team orders fiasco will leave an asterisk on his Hungary victory, and so Piastri will be keen to score his next win purely on merit.

We also learned in the midseason break that Piastri won his maiden race in Hungary driving with a broken rib!

RED BULL (B)

1st (408)

The stability in the technical regulations between 2023 and 2024 meant Red Bull unsurprisingly started the season in dominant fashion. But since then, things have not gone according to plan. Sergio Perez's form has fallen off the planet, which has left the team vulnerable to McLaren. Red Bull probably still have the fastest car on balance, but that is certainly not the case at every track. Where 12 months ago they entered every race as favourite, now they merely start the weekend as one of several contenders. The team won all but one race in 2023, but hasn't won since the Spanish Grand Prix four races. Having said that, the fact they still lead the constructors championship despite effectively having one hand tied behind their back, is a testament to them. Their handling of the Christian Horner investigation, and also its handling of the Perez situation has dragged them down somewhat.

Max Verstappen (A-)

1st (277)

It would take a monumental collapse to stop Max Verstappen winning his fourth-straight drivers championship. Having dominated at the back-end of 2022 and all throughout 2023, fans had perhaps forgotten what kind of driver the Dutchman was in wheel-to-wheel combat. His collision with Lando Norris in Austria was a terrible look, and he compounded it with a petulant block as Norris tried to go past him down the back straight. For that alone, he probably should've copped a whack from the stewards. However, he remains the benchmark driver. That his back hasn't blown out from carrying the entire Red Bull team is a testament to the Red Bull team physio.

Sergio Perez (F)

7th (131)

Where do we start? That Sergio Perez still has his seat beggars belief. In what's still more or less the fastest car on the grid, the Mexican is seventh in the drivers standings, with less than half the points tally of his teammate. He's finished seventh in three of the past four grands prix, and has scored only 27 points in the last eight races - which is comfortably the worst of the top four teams. Verstappen in the same period has scored 116. Given it would be difficult to do any worse, why not take him out of the seat and replace him with a Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda, or even a Liam Lawson? Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly were Max Verstappen's two teammates before Perez, and both had performed marginally better than Perez is now in the races before they were sacked. If Red Bull do not win the constructors championship, the responsibility will without doubt lie with Sergio Perez and the senior team members who didn't sack him. And given winning the constructors championship also triggers a healthy bonus for all the staff back at the team's Milton Keynes base, not winning the championship would no doubt put them offside.