07/07/2025 13:50
A chaotic, rain-affected British Grand Prix at Silverstone ended
with a home victory, a controversial penalty and the breaking of
F1's longest podium drought. There were more ups and downs in
Northamptonshire than in a game of Snakes and Ladders, but how did
RacingNews365 rate each driver and their performance? Below, as
ever, we have rated all 20 drivers on their performances! The top
five Oscar Piastri - 8.5 This might seem unusual given he earned
himself a penalty which ultimately handed his team-mate the win,
but Piastri was the better of the two McLaren drivers when it
mattered. He got ahead by 0.015s in qualifying, and did well to
hang on to Verstappen, harrying him into mistakes, and cleanly
pulled away whilst Norris was held up. Should have known better in
the incident, which has led to a 14-point swing in an increasingly
close title fight. Lando Norris - 8 Certainly the better of the
two McLarens on Friday, but slipped in the key moments of
qualifying, with Piastri getting ahead for the first time in Q3.
Could not hold onto either his team-mate or Verstappen, and only
won because of Piastri's penalty, but you take them as they come.
Won back-to-back races for the first time in his F1 career. Nico
Hulkenberg - 8 Finally. The monkey has been shifted, and
Hulkenberg has that podium at long last. An expert drive using all
his experience in those treacherous conditions and was quite
comfortably able to hold Lewis Hamilton off after they both passed
Lance Stroll. Cannot score any higher owing to the fact that he was
out-qualified by his team-mate, who endured a tricky weekend. Max
Verstappen - 8 An astonishing pole lap was one of the best
Silverstone has ever seen, but it was an illusion given the
trimmed-out rear-wing he was using. It was a huge gamble that would
have paid off without rain, but he did well to keep it pointing
straight just about, until the Stowe spin dropped him to 10th.
Despite an "undriveable" car, rallied to finish P5. Summed up his
season. Pierre Gasly - 7.5 Gasly somehow wrestled that Alpine into
the top 10 on the grid, and then drove a fine race to sixth, being
passed by Max Verstappen in the closing stages and otherwise would
have taken ffith. Held his own against the likes of Verstappen and
Hamilton and did a fine job, but with a bit more risk, was a podium
on the cards? The bottom five Ollie Bearman - 4.5 Bearman was
incredibly difficult to rate, given the highs and lows of his
weekend. The incident in FP3 was careless, and the stewards rightly
hammered him for his speed on approach to the pit-entry. But given
that he knew he had a 10-place grid drop, he still qualified that
Haas inside the top 10 with a car that has struggled in qualifying.
Despite then getting thumped by Tsunoda and commiting the cardinal
sin of hitting his team-mate, he still only finished 1.4s behind
George Russell for an unlikely point. Messy, but fast at times.
Charles Leclerc - 4 Out-qualified once again by Hamilton, albeit
by a slender margin, but as boss Fred Vasseur put it, his race was
over after pitting on the formation lap. Had a messy, error-strewn
race to 14th, the last driver on the lead lap. Gabriel Bortoleto -
4 Did out-qualify Hulkenberg, so earns some credit back for that,
but a messy weekend overall for the F2 champion. FP3 crash he felt
was wind-related, but no-one else did the same whilst the crash
which ended the race was very easy to do given the tricky
conditions when changing to slicks when the track was not ready.
Yuki Tsunoda - 3.5 The only driver to be lapped, Tsunoda, cut a
disconsolate figure post-race. In fairness, he did well to avoid
another Q1 exit and took 11th on the grid after Bearman's penalty,
but went backwards in the race. Received a penalty for hitting
Bearman and looked like a driver in need of getting away from F1
for the break. Franco Colapinto - 3 Given Alpine's struggles on
Friday, it was perhaps no surprise to see he and Gasly struggling
to escape Q1, but whereas Gasly did and stuck the car inside the
top 10, Colapinto got on the kerb in the final sector, and spun
himself further into Flavio Briatore's bad books. The image of
Briatore's head in his hands about sums it up. Faultless for the
gearbox failure, which meant he posted a DNS. RacingNews365's 2025
F1 British Grand Prix driver ratings
