Round 6 Formula 1 Driver, Rookie, and Constructor Awards

Our team of Formula 1 writers and broadcasters vote on the top performers for each race

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Posted on June 7, 2023


  Dane Miller, Stephen Vilardo & Greg Kokot

There are a lot of moving parts and players that go into a successful Formula 1 team.

From the principal to the technical director and mechanics, the team can include anywhere from 300 to 1,200 people.

But the drivers and constructors shoulder the better part of the glory and blame.

Each week, or Formula 1 “Round,” our team of writers and broadcasters vote on awards for the top Driver, Rookie, and Constructor (which designs and builds the engine and chassis).

Our selections for last week’s Spanish Grand Prix appear below, along with a table showing how each writer-broadcaster voted.

— Dane Miller, Series Editor

Driver of the Week – Max Verstappen, Red Bull

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen dominated the Spanish Grand Prix.

Verstappen

The Dutch driver led every lap of the race, secured the fastest lap of the Grand Prix, put his car on the pole, and topped the charts in all three practice sessions.

The clean sweep further underlines his status as the face of Formula 1. The 25-year-old is in the legacy era of his career, winning 18 of the last 28 races and doing it in convincing fashion.

He won the Spanish Grand Prix by 24 seconds over Lewis Hamilton and was never threatened by any driver. The victory marked the 40th of his career and was the seventh-straight win for Red Bull to start the year.

Verstappen now leads the Driver’s Championship by 53 points and is well on his way to securing his third-straight championship.

Constructor of the Week – Mercedes

After bringing a substantial upgrade package to Monaco last week, Mercedes hit a home run.

The German team was clearly the second-fastest at the Spanish Grand Prix and appear to have turned a corner.

Ditching its “zero” side-pod design, Mercedes has essentially re-engineered their car into a completely new concept. The results showed in Barcelona with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finishing second and third.

The dramatic uptick in performance drew the ire of Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner.

The historic arch-rival of Mercedes, Horner has stated publicly that the upgrade package likely brought the German super-team close to their cost cap limit.

The contextual irony of Red Bull griping about potential cost cap violations is rich after the Austrian team exceeded the limit in the controversial 2021 season.

Still, when your main rival is forced to go public with cost cap talking points after a substantial increase in performance, you are doing something right.

Rookie of the Week – Oscar Piastri, McLaren

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was the top-performing rookie of the weekend. The Australian driver finished 13th after putting his car into Q3 during qualifying on Saturday.

Finishing one position ahead of Alpha Tauri’s Nyck de Vries, Piastri continues to distinguish himself as the No. 1 rookie in the field.

Piastri

He remains the only first-year driver to have scored points this season and is ahead of veterans Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen in the Driver’s Standings.

But even as Piastri has arguably exceeded the expectations set for him, his McLaren team is woefully underperforming.

The British organization known for its expensive supercars is sixth in the Constructor’s Standings, just 11 points ahead of America’s Haas and 23 points behind France’s Alpine.

The team has taken several steps backward this year after being in firm contention for the “Best of the Rest” moniker last season.

In the context of a struggling team, the performance of Piastri probably doesn’t get enough respect.

How Our Writers and Broadcasters Voted

—Driver of the Week—
Dane	Max Verstappen
Greg	Max Verstappen
Stephen	George Russell
—Rookie of the Week—
Dane	Oscar Piastri
Greg	Oscar Piastri
Stephen	Oscar Piastri
—Constructor of the Week—
Dane	Mercedes
Greg	Mercedes
Stephen	Mercedes