Within the second a part of RaceFans’ mid-season driver rankings operating all this week, it’s time to have a look at the drivers who haven’t been essentially the most disappointing performers of the season thus far, however have nonetheless not been as spectacular as the vast majority of their friends.

16 – Kevin Magnussen – Haas

When Kevin Magnussen was introduced again all of a sudden and supplied a second lease of life in System 1 early final season, he got here again with a bang and made his younger workforce mate Mick Schumacher look second-rate over their 12 months collectively. In 2023, the return of veteran Nico Hulkenberg was at all times going to be an even bigger problem for Magnussen – and thus far, he’s coming off second finest.

Sitting in simply 18th place within the drivers’ championship on solely two factors, Magnussen is conspicuously behind Hulkenberg within the standings. Nevertheless, each Haas drivers have recorded simply two prime ten finishes every within the first 12 rounds – reflecting the challenges that the pair have confronted throughout races. The VF-23 suffers from extreme tyre degradation in comparison with its rivals which ends up in the Haas drivers recurrently dropping down the order each time they qualify in an honest place.

However even with that problem, Magnussen has clearly not executed nearly as good a job as Hulkenberg regardless of being with the workforce for a full season earlier than Hulkenberg joined them. Magnussen has solely crushed his workforce mate thrice in qualifying thus far this season. Whereas Hulkenberg has solely been knocked out of Q1 thrice and reached Q3 as usually as Sergio Perez, Magnussen has been eradicated on the first hurdle seven instances and reached the highest ten solely as soon as.

And through race days, Magnussen hasn’t precisely set the observe alight. His Sunday in Jeddah was simply essentially the most spectacular as he muscled previous Yuki Tsunoda within the closing laps to grab the ultimate level, however that was in all probability the spotlight of the season thus far. He was far off the extent of his workforce mate in Melbourne and retired when he appeared to simply drive into the wall late within the race.

However whereas Melbourne was the one time within the opening 5 rounds the place he failed to complete forward of his workforce mate, he couldn’t say the identical for the overwhelming majority of rounds that adopted. Magnussen was behind his workforce mate in Monaco, Spain, Canada and Hungary – the latter of which was one other unhealthy weekend the place he did not comply with Hulkenberg out of Q1 and was operating final within the race till Logan Sargeant spun with a handful of laps remaining.

Apart from the low factors, Magnussen has merely not been all that spectacular. He can be keen to ensure he alters the narrative over the second half of the season.

15 – Yuki Tsunoda – AlphaTauri

Yuki Tsunoda’s third season in System 1 has, on paper been his most spectacular thus far. Whereas the AlphaTauri is clearly one of many slowest vehicles within the subject, Tsunoda was the one one of many workforce’s drivers to attain factors within the first half of 2023 – doing so on three events.

It might simply have been extra, although, as he completed simply exterior of the factors in eleventh place in three of the primary 5 rounds, ending tenth within the different two. It was undoubtedly the perfect begin to a season that Tsunoda has loved in his three seasons within the sport.

Helpfully for his personal standing, Tsunoda was simply the higher performer out of him and rookie workforce mate Nyck de Vries. Within the ten rounds they competed collectively, Tsunoda received the higher of De Vries eight out of ten instances in qualifying, reaching Q3 in each Baku and Monaco. There have been additionally solely two events when Tsunoda failed to succeed in the end line on Sunday forward of De Vries, in Monaco – after operating off observe at Mirabeau within the moist – and on the Crimson Bull Ring.

He in all probability ought to have scored two extra factors in Spain however was hit with what he known as a “very harsh” penalty for forcing Zhou off the observe within the closing laps which dropped him from ninth to twelfth. However his weekend in Austria was simply Tsunoda’s worst of the 12 months thus far. He was knocked out of Q1, then misplaced his finest time in dash qualifying on account of observe limits. Then within the grand prix, he broken his entrance wing at flip one in a transfer that regarded like a typical divebomb in an open foyer race on-line after which earned 20 seconds of time penalties for 9 observe limits infringements.

However what was maybe extra placing was Hungary, the place he was out carried out by Daniel Ricciardo over the weekend regardless of the returning veteran by no means driving the workforce’s automobile earlier than Friday apply. In his third 12 months in Crimson Bull’s junior workforce, how Tsunoda fares in opposition to Ricciardo within the final ten rounds is probably going going to find out his future in System 1.

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14 – Carlos Sainz Jnr – Ferrari

The truth that a Ferrari driver may be thus far exterior of the highest ten rankings on the mid-season stage suggests two issues. First, that Carlos Sainz Jnr has underperformed over the course of the primary half of the 12 months and, secondly, that the standard of the sphere is so robust this season that even being merely ‘first rate sufficient’ will depart you wanting outclassed by the vast majority of your friends.

Maybe essentially the most telling statistic about Sainz’s season thus far is that whereas he sits in seventh place within the drivers’ championship, simply seven factors behind each George Russell and his Ferrari workforce mate Charles Leclerc, Sainz is one in every of solely two drivers within the prime ten positions within the championship to not have completed on the rostrum thus far in 2023. The truth is, Sainz has solely completed as excessive as fourth as soon as within the opening 12 rounds, that being the opening race in Bahrain – which even then was primarily right down to Leclerc breaking down from third place.

It’s not correct to say Sainz has been unhealthy this season or had any particularly poor weekends. Nevertheless, it’s honest to say that he hasn’t precisely stood out on many events all through the primary half of the 12 months. His house grand prix in Spain was his finest weekend as he secured his solely entrance row begin of the season and whereas he dropped to fifth within the race, that mirrored extra on the superior race tempo of the Crimson Bulls and Mercedes than it did his personal efficiency.

It’s additionally true that the efficiency stage of the highest 4 groups behind Crimson Bull has various wildly in 2023. However each time Ferrari have been at their strongest within the first half of the season – akin to Baku, Montreal and the Crimson Bull Ring – it’s been Leclerc who has made the a lot of the automobile each time. He admitted he simply didn’t have the tempo of Leclerc in Baku, who locked out pole for the dash race and the grand prix, and in Montreal he crashed in apply, misplaced three locations on the grid after blatantly impeding Pierre Gasly in qualifying after which adopted behind his workforce mate within the race.

Sainz will know he’s able to higher than what he’s proven by the primary half of the season. The query is, will he discover a manner to enhance?

13 – Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo

Retrospectively, the struggles that two of this 12 months’s three rookies – Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant – have endured over the opening half of the season makes Zhou’s rookie marketing campaign of final 12 months look all of the extra stable by comparability. Nevertheless, Zhou Guanyu is now not a rookie and would have been anticipated to step up in his second season – one thing, arguably, he has just about achieved.

Though Alfa Romeo’s drop in efficiency in comparison with the primary half of 2022 has drastically decreased the alternatives for Zhou to make huge splashes over the course of the season, the second-year driver has been way more equal in efficiency to workforce mate Valtteri Bottas over the opening 12 rounds of 2023 in comparison with final 12 months. Though he’s dropping the qualifying battle by eight-to-four, Zhou finishes forward of his much more skilled workforce mate simply over a 3rd of the time on Sundays – an enchancment over final 12 months.

Extra crucially, Zhou has the identical variety of factors finishes – two – as Bottas has achieved in the identical timeframe, contributing 4 of his workforce’s 9 factors within the constructors’ championship after prime ten finishes in each Melbourne and Barcelona. He doubtless might have had one other prime ten in Jeddah had he not suffered sluggish pit stops and misplaced out with an inconvenient Security Automotive. He was on superb kind in Spain as he out-qualified Bottas, gained 4 locations with a wonderful begin and finally completed ninth after being promoted one place for being ‘pressured off’ by Tsunoda as they battled within the closing laps.

His solely actual unhealthy weekend got here in Canada – the scene of the perfect end of his profession for a lot from 2022. He was slower than Bottas in ever session in Montreal and was eradicated slowest from Q1 and whereas he benefitted from the Security Automotive timing within the race to realize 4 locations, he was unable to profit from it and completed six locations behind his workforce mate.

However aside from that, Zhou’s performances could possibly be characterised largely as ‘effective’. He did brilliantly in Hungary when the Alfa Romeo hit the candy spot in qualifying to take his highest grid place of his profession, however then his race fell aside at the beginning. Whereas his poor getaway was right down to a really peculiar automobile fault, he had no excuse for rear-ending Ricciardo at flip one and taking out the 2 Alpines because of this. A uncommon mistake from the usually dependable Zhou.

Whereas he continues to get pleasure from a really robust relationship together with his workforce mate Bottas, Zhou’s efficiency over the second half of the season might have a significant impression on how each he and is workforce mate are perceived within the paddock – each by their very own workforce in addition to by their rivals.

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