F1® 2021 DRIVER STATS - THE MID-SEASON UPDATE

We couldn’t have wished for a better start to the 2021 season, with the Constructor and Driver Championships finely poised coming out of the summer break. F1® fans around the globe have been treated to drama at almost every turn with jaw-dropping moments, head-in-hands heartbreak, and frenetic action throughout the field in arguably one of the most exciting seasons to date.

As the F1® season progresses, we’re feeding the real-world data into our game and applying the changes to the F1® 2021 My Team Driver Ratings. We’ll be updating these stats throughout the season to reflect each driver’s performance on-track, with recent results from this season having a bigger influence than past season performances.

In My Team, you take on the role of driver-owner: creating your F1® team, choosing a teammate from the current F1® and F2™ market, and forming the 11th team on the grid. Each driver in My Team is assigned a score out of 99 in four areas - Experience, Racecraft, Awareness, and Pace - before an Overall score is given.

If you need a quick reminder on what each category is based on and how we calculate these changes, then head to our Driver Stat deep dive which can be found here.

Let’s take a look at some of the bigger moves of the field. The changes in this update are based on the first 11 races of the season; up to and including the Hungarian Grand Prix.

A Williams Double Boost

After simultaneously scoring their first points for Williams Racing at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Nicholas Latifi and George Russell are the biggest positive movers with their Racecraft increasing by +4 and +3 respectively. Picking up Williams Racing’s first points in two years has also contributed to their Overall ratings increasing by +1 to 72 for Nicholas and 85 for George.

Rookies on the Move

The three drivers in their first F1® season - Yuki Tsunoda, Mick Schumacher, and Nikita Mazepin - have experienced quite different seasons so far. Yuki has racked up a respectable 18 championship points, whereas the two Haas drivers are stuck on zero points. Nobody can doubt they’ve gained a ton of **Experience **in the races up until now, with all three drivers getting a +3 boost in that stat. Yuki has been out-qualified by teammate Pierre Gasly in every qualifying session so far - that coupled with a pair of P20 finishes in qualifying has meant his **Pace **has dropped by -5, the most significant **Pace **drop of the field.

Awareness Drops for Lando and Valtteri

Despite Lando Norris finishing in the top five in nine of the 11 races so far this season, a five-second penalty for squeezing out Sergio Perez in Austria has cost him dearly. With fewer races under his belt than other drivers in the field, his **Awareness **has fallen to 84. Similarly, Valtteri Bottas has also seen his **Awareness **drop -7 after a handful of mistakes.

Alonso’s Impressive Return

Following his recent return to the sport, Fernando Alonso has experienced a season of two halves so far. After a slow start in the opening five races, he’s on a six-race streak of finishing in the points including an impressive fourth place finish in Hungary. With over 300 races under his belt, his **Experience **of 99 couldn’t be improved upon but +3 for Racecraft, +1 for Awareness, and +1 for **Pace **has seen his **Overall **rating rise to 91.

 The Leading Pair

What of the two title contenders? Seven-time and reigning champion Lewis Hamilton leads the championship by the slenderest of margins, with just eight points separating him and his closest rival Max Verstappen. Max will undoubtedly consider himself unfortunate not to be leading after a series of on-track incidents, where two were out of his control. Lewis’ penalty at Silverstone has been a factor in his **Awareness **dropping by -4, whereas Max’s two DNFs have contributed to a **Racecraft **drop of **-3 **but a **Pace **increase of +1.

Those are the headline changes, below is the full list of changes:

When these new stats go live, anyone in the middle of a My Team save will be asked through in-game messages whether they’d like to apply the changes to the existing save.