Australian Grand Prix Driver Reviews: Harry Benjamin on how the grid performed in Melbourne

The season-opening round of the Australian Grand Prix got off to an eventful start despite mixed feelings around the paddock about the new era of Formula 1.

Mercedes driver George Russell converted pole into a race win, while his teammate Kimi Antonelli took one and two for the Silver Arrows.

Here are the driver ratings for the first weekend in Melbourne:

George Russell – 9 – A solid weekend from the Briton who has been favorite for the title since pre-season testing. He found himself without a battery to start the race, which resulted in a bad start off the line and lost him the race lead. Once past Charles Leclerc, he was rarely forced to press hard.

Kimi Antonelli – 7 – Good recovery from Antonelli, who was behind his Mercedes teammate for most of the weekend. The huge accident in final practice left him and his mechanics with a lot of work to do. Only Max Verstappen’s red flag in qualifying allowed Mercedes enough time to get out, and even then, the Italian looked on the verge of putting him into the wall. But a front-row spot on the grid, followed by a poor start and a return to second, makes for an overall strong start.

Charles Leclerc – 7.5 – Strong, fast, great start to take the lead of the race into the first corner. Great fight with Russell in the early stages. He made no mistake, but in the end Ferrari’s strategy cost him the opportunity for more.

Lewis Hamilton – 7.5 – Quick checkout. There is a renewed aura around Hamilton this year, and while I was surprised to see him disqualified ahead of teammate Leclerc, an equally impressive start off the line has kept him in contention. It let Ferrari’s strategy down but had enough power to keep Leclerc’s heel straight to the checkered flag.

Lando Norris – 5 – I’m not happy with the new regulations and running was very limited all weekend due to various issues. He couldn’t get the better of his teammate Oscar Piastri but kept things clean and tidy and got the better of Max Verstappen at the end.

Max Verstappen – 5 – Another guy is totally pissed off at the new regulations. He looked a little off throughout practice, and had an uncharacteristic crash in the early part of qualifying that left him with work to do. He worked his way into the points from 20th but was unable to beat Norris to finish fifth.

Oliver Berman – 7 – I stayed quietly under the radar all weekend until it became more important. He looked a bit behind in the midfield until Friday, but he outpaced team-mate Esteban Ocon convincingly and beautifully and worked his way up to seventh place. Great start.

Arvid Lindblad – 8 – Very impressed all weekend long. He was level with Racing Bulls teammate Liam Lawson from the start but was unable to produce a good performance on the final qualifying lap which left him behind. A great start saw him rise to third place from eighth place. He raced well against Verstappen and a great battle over battery management with Gabriel Bortoletto at the end resulted in an impressive eighth place finish on his debut.

Gabriel Bortoletto – 7 – Having looked behind Audi teammate Nico Hulkenberg until qualifying, the pressure was on the Brazilian in his second season but he reached the top 10 in qualifying at the German’s expense. He kept his nose clean throughout the race, managed his battles well and achieved a smooth points finish in Audi’s first Formula 1 race.

Pierre Gasly – 6 – Overall, it was a weekend of disappointment for Alpine, who was expecting more. You can still handle battery management and general operations. Gasly convincingly beat teammate Franco Colapinto and secured a hard-earned point.

Esteban Ocon – 4 – He couldn’t put it together in qualifying and was beaten by his teammate Berman. There in the race but he backed down in the end. Ocon must start to beat Briton Biermann to keep his Formula 1 career alive.