Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Australian Grand Prix weekend?
It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last three days.
Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Albert Park.
Driver performance summary
| Driver | Q stage | Q position | Q gap to team mate | GP grid position | GP result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Verstappen | Q3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Sergio Perez | Q1 | 20 | 20 | 5 | |
| Charles Leclerc | Q3 | 7 | +0.099s | 7 | Not classified |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Q3 | 5 | -0.099s | 5 | 12 |
| Lewis Hamilton | Q3 | 3 | +0.136s | 3 | 2 |
| George Russell | Q3 | 2 | -0.136s | 2 | Not classified |
| Esteban Ocon | Q2 | 11 | +0.194s | 11 | 14 |
| Pierre Gasly | Q2 | 9 | -0.194s | 9 | 13 |
| Lando Norris | Q2 | 13 | -0.209s | 13 | 6 |
| Oscar Piastri | Q1 | 16 | +0.209s | 16 | 8 |
| Valtteri Bottas | Q1 | 19 | +0.174s | 19 | 11 |
| Zhou Guanyu | Q1 | 17 | -0.174s | 17 | 9 |
| Lance Stroll | Q3 | 6 | +0.169s | 6 | 4 |
| Fernando Alonso | Q3 | 4 | -0.169s | 4 | 3 |
| Kevin Magnussen | Q2 | 14 | +0.717s | 14 | 17 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Q2 | 10 | -0.717s | 10 | 7 |
| Nyck de Vries | Q2 | 15 | +0.236s | 15 | 15 |
| Yuki Tsunoda | Q2 | 12 | -0.236s | 12 | 10 |
| Alexander Albon | Q3 | 8 | -0.595s | 8 | Not classified |
| Logan Sargeant | Q1 | 18 | +0.595s | 18 | 16 |
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Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?
Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?
Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.
Who was the best driver of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix?
- Logan Sargeant (0%)
- Alexander Albon (1%)
- Yuki Tsunoda (1%)
- Nyck de Vries (0%)
- Kevin Magnussen (1%)
- Nico Hulkenberg (33%)
- Fernando Alonso (11%)
- Lance Stroll (0%)
- Guanyu Zhou (1%)
- Valtteri Bottas (1%)
- Oscar Piastri (1%)
- Lando Norris (3%)
- Pierre Gasly (4%)
- Esteban Ocon (0%)
- George Russell (5%)
- Lewis Hamilton (20%)
- Carlos Sainz Jnr (2%)
- Charles Leclerc (2%)
- Sergio Perez (4%)
- Max Verstappen (12%)
Total Voters: 132
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2023 Australian Grand Prix
- Australian GP to forbid fans from entering track at end of this year’s race
- I only missed one chance to score points this year – Albon
- Formula 1’s stewards should listen to drivers less, not more
- Mercedes unsure whether gains seen in Melbourne were ‘track-specific’
- Why Ferrari saw a ‘real step forward in pure performance’ in point-less Australian GP
Debates and polls
- Will Alonso win a world championship title with Aston Martin?
- How long should Red Bull give Ricciardo to prove he’s not lost his touch?
- Were stewards right to penalise Alonso over his driving before Russell’s crash?
- Are Williams right to bench Sargeant so Albon can race after crash?
- Is the FIA right to make ten seconds the new standard for penalties?
Jere (@jerejj)
2nd April 2023, 8:52
Max would’ve been an easy choice, but I ultimately went for Hulk.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
2nd April 2023, 9:01
@jerejj Same. In fact with a different interpretation of the rules, it could have finally been a (lucky) podium.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
2nd April 2023, 23:23
Well, it’s no surprise if it required luck that ultimately hulkenberg didn’t get a podium, he needs to get it in black and white circumstances, if there’s a grey area he will always lose out.
Ben
2nd April 2023, 10:43
Max was actually bad this weekend.
Made several mistakes in qualifying and didn’t have provisional pole. Finally put a lap together and managed to get pole, but that really is a race against himself in the RedBull.
Poor start losing two positions on lap1.
Mistake running off the track and was lucky his cars so quick it didn’t really matter. In any other car that’s a position or two lost.
That isn’t DOTW material.
Todfod (@todfod)
2nd April 2023, 18:10
True.. He’s been nothing spectacular this weekend. Thought Russell, Hamilton and Hulkenberg were all better. Up until the last two laps I thought Gasly was mega as well.
Simon
2nd April 2023, 21:00
5 minutes 🙄
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
2nd April 2023, 8:52
Nico Hulkenberg gets my vote for the driver this weekend. He had the measure of his teammate, put the car in Q3 and ended in top 10. That is a job well done.
Alex (@)
2nd April 2023, 8:59
Verstappen, Russell, Hamilton and Alonso all drove accomplished races in great cars without putting a foot wrong (or really doing anything exceptional)
Perez made a fun recovery drive, but you have to think Verstappen would have done more with the same car in the same position
Norris drove a great race and (due to the Alpines being knocked out) secured a flattering finish. He also got some great chat from the Sky commentators about holding Perez back, but I think mostly Perez had had several seconds to make up before he caught him – Norris only lasted a lap and a bit once he was caught.
For me then, it’s between Gasly and Hulkenberg. Gasly did a great job of competing with faster cars and making them look even — I think this was comfortably in his top 10 races. So he edges it in my eyes.
I wonder what the top % score is for Driver of the Weekend from someone who didn’t finish the race?
Fahlen
2nd April 2023, 9:08
Verstappen had two meh starts and drove off the track. Russell, Hamilton and Alonso did a better job.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
2nd April 2023, 23:26
I’m not sure, but verstappen’s score in baku 2021 must be pretty high since he was on course to win and didn’t do anything wrong until his tyre exploded 4 laps to go.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
2nd April 2023, 9:11
Oscar got hit, by Yuki which took the wind out of sails, 3rd race , no mistakes in a race of chaos ..my dotd
slowmo (@slowmo)
2nd April 2023, 9:15
I went with Hamilton as he had a solid qualifying and drove very well throughout the race, including a great opportunistic move on Verstappen. Gasly had it until he crashed out. Shame for Albon as he could have been a contender.
Nandkumar Hukeri
2nd April 2023, 9:19
Kevin Magneussen. Because of him last minute excitement was created
Imre (@f1mre)
2nd April 2023, 9:25
I voted Bottas. And I am as serious as the series itself.
bharat (@bharat141)
2nd April 2023, 10:04
Max did what is expected of him, but had 1 bad start, 2 okay starts and an excursion with no one around, while Checo had horrid Saturday and a fun Sunday.
Gasly drove very well until he overcooked at the last restart and is a very serious contender for DoTW had he finished. While George is robbed with no fault of his own with both strategy and engine blow out.
Alonso and Hamilton drove well but nothing spectacular. So went finally with the Hulk. Solid quality with a Q3 finish and did a solid drive in that Haas to put it at P4 at the end on road
Ben
2nd April 2023, 10:36
I actually thought Max was quite poor today. Bad start losing a position to Russel. Then slowing way too early into T3 and losing position to Hamilton. Extremely easy DRS overtake (can’t blame him for it but it’s nothing special) before managing to drive off the circuit all on his own.
He’s lucky that his car is so quick and he can dominate while making errors.
Hulk gets my vote today. Solid all weekend and a solid result today. Nods to Russel and Hamilton too. Shame for his DNF but ultimately I don’t think the Mercedes had the pace for the win anyway.
Antz (@antznz)
2nd April 2023, 13:10
I know Albon crashed out but that Williams had no business being in Q3 or running in the top 10. Pretty impressive! Just a shame his car has next to no downforce.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
2nd April 2023, 23:29
True, he was fast, but I have a hard time thinking the williams is a car that fights around 16th place but albon is a god, fighting for 6th place; I have an easier time thinking sargeant isn’t performing well enough yet and the car is far better than we think.
melanos
2nd April 2023, 13:50
Albon was well on his way to the the DOTW but… no way. The crash was all his fault. About the same for Pierre Gasly.
Max had a massive advantage, otherwise with his poor starts and his off-track excursion near the end he would never have won. His only overtake was not particularly inspiring. And Perez seemed to have sorted out the issues that ruined his practice and quali but should have sliced though the field up to the podium and didn’t. So, neither Red Bull driver.
Carlos was doing well until he punted Fernndo, the penalty was maybe a bit too harsh but deserved. The less said about Charles, the better. Bad weekend for Fezza.
Fernando was a bit lucky to be on the podium although the incident with Carlos was not his fault. Did nothing wrong but nothing outstanding either. And the Mercs seemed out of his reach, each time he tried to get close to the Merc ahead it reacted and slipped away. Lance was nothing special. So, Fernando is good enough for a special mention but no DOTW.
George was excellent both in quali and race start, then his strategy was ruined by the needless RF and then his engine blew up (where the Merc engines turned up a bit too much, or otherwise why suddenly they were able to leave the Aston Martin and Ferraris behind?). He gets my vote. The other Merc driver forced Max out without being ahead and gets my vote for the worst driver of the weekend (should have been blackflagged).
Honorable mention to the Hulk also for punching above his weight.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
2nd April 2023, 23:33
Pity vote for gasly, who had an excellent race till the end, fighting with much faster cars, and if the car hadn’t been demolished, as per the rules, he’d have been back to the place he had before.
Not impressed by verstappen, as others have said, he made plenty of mistakes this weekend, also not impressed by perez, his recovery was slow, I think verstappen would’ve caught up with the alonso-hamilton-russell group (if he hadn’t retired), I immediately thought perez wouldn’t have caught those, but was particularly disappointed that he was even slower than I thought, he took ages to recover 4 sec to norris.
Alonso, hamilton and russell until he had the engine failure drove well, but they didn’t really have to fight a lot, just managing the pace by hamilton to not let alonso get within drs.
Hulkenberg also had a good race and the car is better than I expected.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
2nd April 2023, 23:33
Oh, and hulkenberg was on it also all quali, I understand why he’s winning the vote.
Jimmy Cliff
3rd April 2023, 8:20
Happy to see Nico Hulkenberg in the lead – amazed that 1 in 3 voters voted for either Lewis or Max while neither came even close to deserve driver of the weekend.
Max did an OK qualifying but left it to end of Q3 to set a good lap, had 1 not optimum start, had an off track moment and didn’t set the FLAP. Finished 1st with the fastest car after starting on pole.
Lewis lost to his teammate in qualifying, did have a good start and nice over take on Max, on the limit but ok and then just drove the car home. Finished 2nd with the 2nd fastest car after teammate lucked out twice.