DRIVER RATINGS UPDATE (SEPTEMBER)

Red Bull’s season just keeps getting better and better. Now that we’re past the halfway point in the season, their remarkable season shows no sign of slowing down, with every race win secured up to the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. 

Despite this, in the last two races since the previous F1® 23 Driver Ratings update, there have been some high flyers worthy of a mention throughout the field. To name a couple, Ferrari excited the Tifosi in Monza to the very end, whereas Alpine secured an unlikely podium in the form of Pierre Gasly. 

With this latest Driver Ratings update, that includes results up until the Italian Grand Prix, Anthony Davidson and Alex Jacques have analysed these recent performances, picked through the race data, and helped calculate the updated ratings. To view the fully updated list and to compare stats of drivers directly, check out the Driver Ratings hub by clicking here. 

Before we get into some highlighted changes, here’s a reminder on how scores for the drivers have been put together:

• Racecraft (RAC): Racecraft describes a driver's ability to work their way through the pack to finish the race higher up than where they started.
• Experience (EXP): This stat has been amended this year to determine how much value each race result contributes to the driver's experience in the earlier and mid stages of their career. Fernando Alonso's record of race starts is used as the max points for the experience rating, sitting at 99 points.
• Pace (PAC): Pace rewards the drivers who get closest to the fastest Race and Qualifying lap times as well as the difference to their teammates.
• Awareness (AWA): Awareness rewards drivers who avoid the stewards' room. And for the ones that don't, the severity of errors now counts more towards their Awareness rating.
• Overall Rating (RTG): A combination of all driver stats that lays out each driver's ability within F1® 23, with a higher weighting for Pace.

Let’s get into a couple highlights:

Oscar Piastri

Oscar’s consistency in the McLaren over the last few races has been remarkable, despite his rookie status. 

Even though he DNF’d at Belgium, he bounced back to score a couple of points at the technical Zandvoort Circuit. In Monza, a collision with Lewis Hamilton, where the 7-time champion received a penalty, resulted in him finishing outside of the points after what was a solid drive. Another unlucky mark on his record this season.

Piastri continues to impress. Therefore, his Pace is up five, Racecraft up one, and Experience up two. Despite his Awareness dropping by two points his Overall rating has moved into the 80s - now 82.

Lewis Hamilton

The former World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, hasn’t had an easy run so far this year.

Whilst he has been largely consistent over the season, the Mercedes wasn’t able to match the pace of others on the grid to challenge for a podium for the Dutch or Italian Grands Prix. That being said, a penalty at Monza didn’t hamper Lewis’ progress through the field in the latter stages of the race, even if he was lucky to escape damage.

Lewis’ penalty for colliding with Oscar Piastri has meant he’s had the single largest stat drop of this update, with his Awareness dropping five points. Closing in on his 350th F1® race, his Experience has risen to 98. As a result, Lewis’ Overall rating has dropped by one to 92, landing him third in terms of overall rating behind Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen.

Pierre Gasly

It would have been long odds to consider Alpine fighting for podiums after the turbulent season they’ve had so far.

Multiple double DNFs, big organisational changes, and some rotten luck has often plagued the French duo of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon. All that was forgotten, however, when Pierre Gasly saw himself take his fourth career podium finish with a brilliant third at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Can we expect more podiums from Alpine before the season is out? Pierre’s Pace has risen by one and his Awareness has dropped by one - resulting in no Overall change to his rating. He stays on 86, one point ahead of his teammate. 

Don’t forget to check out the full grid breakdown by heading to the Driver Ratings hub here.

Agree or disagree on these changes? Let us know! Plus, be sure to keep up to date on the latest F1® 23 news by following the official Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube channels.