Hello and welcome back to my F1 driver power rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my first edition of it after the Bahrain Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here.
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was both entertaining and chaotic in equal measure with the rain shower minutes before the race causing the teams to think on their feet and for the drivers to re-adjust their focus, which is always a recipe for fun. We witnessed a lot of rough and tumble, with the drivers having to find the limit on the fly around this old-school narrow and unforgiving circuit. The close proximity of the barriers and gravel traps lining the track meant mistakes were punished, which is the way it should be. In danger of sounding like an old man already – they don’t build race tracks like that anymore.
In this edition of the power rankings new stars start to emerge, a few young guns climb and some established names continue to fall. However, that’s all I’m giving you, you will have to read on to find out more.
After Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix (2 of 23)
- Lewis Hamilton (-+)
A couple of uncharacteristic mistakes from the 7-time World Champion scuppered his chances of race victory in Imola. The first being tying to brave it around the outside of Verstappen at Turn 1 when he was always driving into a narrowing wedge, losing part of his front wing end plate in the process. This cost him an estimated 3 tenths per lap thereafter. The second mistake was being a bit too impatient trying to lap George Russell on Lap 31 which put him on the wet part of the track, causing an inevitable lock up and visit to the barriers. It took him over a minute to get out of that predicament, by which time he was a lap down and his teammate had brought out the red flag after a huge crash with George Russell on Lap 32. This actually saved Hamilton’s blushes as he was able to fix his car and get back on the lead lap when the race restarted. A more characteristic fight back to second with some pinpoint overtaking and a fastest lap on the way helped maintain his championship lead over Verstappen which has kept him at the top of this list. Those 18 points saved could be crucial at the end of the year in what is increasingly looking like a two-way fight for the title in 2021.
2. Max Verstappen (-+)
A mistake on his final qualifying lap cost him pole position on Saturday but he immediately made up for it on Sunday by taking the lead after a great start in wet conditions into Turn 1. He then went on to pull away in the race until Hamilton closed the gap before the only pit-stop of the race when the timing to switch to slicks would be crucial. Red Bull chose the perfect time to pit him, one lap before Mercedes called Hamilton in and this helped to extend the gap once more. We were denied a grandstand finish with Hamilton’s gravel trap excursion, but I think it would have been hard to overtake Max with only one dry line into the overtaking spot at Turn 1. With Hamilton fighting back through the field, Max had a clear and simple journey to his first win on Italian soil. This should not take away from the fact that Max looks as strong as Hamilton in wet conditions and is starting to tick all the World Champion boxes. A semi spin at the restart only really showed me his exceptional car control to keep it going in the right direction circa Brazil 2016. Even when he makes a mistake it looks good.
3. Lando Norris (+1)
Norris just keeps getting better and better and his Imola weekend showed us many reasons why. He missed out on P3 in qualifying by a couple of inches due to track limits violations on his last qualifying lap but as Martin Brundle said in commentary, that violation was not where his lap time came from; he was genuinely quick enough. Starting 7th he kept out of trouble at the start, and a fantastic double overtake on Stroll and Sainz really showed off his opportunistic race craft. He then went on to dominate his teammate in the wet, so much so that the team had to ask Daniel to move out of his way with Lando quickly disappearing up the road. Another brave overtake on Leclerc at the restart put him up to 2nd which he held onto until Hamilton caught him two laps from the end, but a 2nd career podium finish for the young Brit was more than deserved. While lots of mistakes were made on Sunday, I didn’t see Lando put a foot wrong, especially under extreme pressure from behind for the last 15 laps. A thoroughly impressive weekend all round.
4. Charles Leclerc (-1)
Leclerc continues to maximise his Ferrari’s potential by sticking it at the sharp end of the grid on Saturday, starting 4th in Imola. He got past Perez on Lap 1 and then drove away to have quite a quiet race until the restart, when he was overtaken by Norris which would eventually lose him a podium position. The McLaren’s straight-line speed probably kept Lando ahead in the latter stages as Leclerc was able to follow closely but the opportunity just didn’t arrive to have a go. He loses one spot just because of how impressed I was with Lando’s performance, probably the best of his career.
5. Lance Stroll (+1)
Another weekend when he out-performed his vastly more experienced teammate and moved forward in the race to secure Aston Martin championship points. Starting 10th for the second straight weekend, he was able to stay in the fight this time around as he made up 3 spots at the start and held on to them to finish 7th on the road. However, he was given a 5 second time penalty and demoted to 8th after he was deemed to have overtaken Pierre Gasly off the track on Lap 11, which unfortunately I have not been able to see. At this stage in the season while Aston Martin try and understand where their car is lacking, Lance is getting the most out of it and picking up crucial points. He just needs his teammate to get his act together and join him there.
6. Sergio Perez (-1)
A great Saturday turned into a disastrous Sunday for Perez. The first front row start of his career to out-qualify his teammate was much needed after Bahrain, however, after being beaten off the line by Verstappen he was never on the pace to challenge for the win or give Red Bull the tactical advantage over Mercedes. He lost a spot to Leclerc at the start, lost another to Norris in the pits and was 50 seconds behind his teammate on Lap 32 when the red flags came out to temporarily stop the race. Once the race got going again, Perez spun at the Gilles Villeneuve chicane when he went a bit too wide mid corner and got onto the wet line, dropping him down the field. He would finish 12th and out of the points on a day when a podium was the minimum he would have expected from himself. He is still getting used to this car, so mistakes are expected but as we know this Red Bull team do not give their drivers much time to correct them.
7. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)
Daniel did not have the pace of his teammate all weekend in Imola and was beaten thoroughly on Sunday by Norris. At times he was a second a lap slower than the Brit. However, he still lined up as the leading McLaren on the grid and finished 6th in the race. The reason he doesn’t move down this list is because he still picked up solid points in a car he is still figuring out, and the people below didn’t do enough to leapfrog him. I have confidence that Daniel will be on Lando’s pace before long and we can see some typical Aussie dive bombs coming soon. This shows the place McLaren are in when 6th feels like a below average result.
8. Pierre Gasly (+2)
Another excellent qualifying from the Frenchman to stick the Alpha Tauri 5th on the grid was unfortunately let down by the decision to start the race on full wet tyres, while the vast majority of the grid chose the intermediates. It was soon proved to be the wrong decision as no more rain came and the track dried out. Gasly did well to keep the cars behind for so long but by the time he pitted he was 19th. The restart saved his race as he was able to battle up to 8th with some nice overtaking and errors ahead aiding his effort. We need to see an error free weekend from Alpha Tauri to truly judge where this team sit but in flashes this car is super-fast and Gasly has shown he can handle the pressure once more after his fateful Red Bull stint.
9. Carlos Sainz (+3)
While he admits himself that he still isn’t fully comfortable in this Ferrari, which he described as like learning how to drive in a new racing category compared to his previous McLaren, he would be satisfied with finishing only 1.5 seconds behind his teammate on Sunday to finish 5th. Being knocked out in Qualifying 2 to line up 11th and making a few mistakes early on Sunday would have annoyed him. However, a sign of a good racer is that he didn’t let them effect him or his weekend and as points are handed out after the race, history will tell us this was a good weekend for Sainz Jr.
10. Fernando Alonso (-2)
Alonso was off the pace all weekend in Imola for Alpine. He was out-qualified by a teammate for the first time since 2018 to line up 15th and then was never really involved in the action on Sunday. He was lucky to finish 11th on the road and then promoted to 10th due to Raikkonen’s time penalty while his teammate finished one place ahead. The silver lining is that these are Alpine’s first points of the season but Alonso looked much more his punchy self in the desert.
11. George Russell (-2)
The more I watch the Russell – Bottas crash, the more I think that George just misjudged the gap, got onto the wet patch of track and lost control, collecting Bottas in the process for as high speed a crash as you will see in F1. George has since apologised and back tracked on some comments he made about Bottas in the aftermath. It did feel symbolic as Russell tried to overtake the man he hopes to beat to the Mercedes race seat in 2022 but not quite the result he would have wanted. Before this he was having another very solid weekend as he threatened top 10 in qualifying, lining up 12th, and was fighting for points in the race. He drops down because to impress any potential employer, you can’t be taking out one of their cars and this was a massive missed opportunity for his Williams team to pick up some rare points. Strong words from Toto Wolff post-race show George still has some ways to go to get that coveted Mercedes seat.
12. Kimi Raikkonen (-1)
A rather complicated 30 second post-race time penalty for not getting back into the right position and then for not entering the pit lane after he had spun behind the safety car at the restart meant Kimi dropped out of the points from finishing 9th on the road. In his defence, the stewards themselves admitted the rules are confusing in regards to this area of the regulations. The Alfa team did ask for clarification at the time but did not get a response back quick enough to fix the issue. Apart from this mishap, he continues to be a mature and safe pair of hands in the race to make up for lack of qualifying pace in this Alfa Romeo.
13. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)
Mistakes cost the Young Japanese driver dearly on both Saturday and Sunday. He crashed out in Qualifying 1 carrying too much speed into the chicane at the top of the hill, losing control of the back end of his Alpha Tauri and nearly ripping it off when he collected the barrier. This meant he started 20th and last on Sunday. He proceeded to make up ten spots in the first half of the race only to throw it all away again at the restart trying to overtake Hamilton on the inside of Turn 1. He got onto the damp patch of track, hit the throttle a bit too enthusiastically and around she went, dropping him to the back once more. He got back up to 13th at the flag, but this will feel like a missed opportunity. Yuki has time on his side as this is only his second race and mistakes will happen, but his speed is obvious which will put him in good stead once he cuts these rookie errors out.
14. Esteban Ocon (+2)
A better weekend for the Frenchman where he convincingly out-qualified and then beat his 2-time World Champion teammate in the race. This Alpine looks like the 6th or 7th quickest car so it may be hard for Ocon to prove himself, but this sort of weekend and having a world class driver to compare to will help. He jumps up because the two drivers below had shockers.
15. Valtteri Bottas (-1)
Bottas went from being quickest on Friday to having a nightmare weekend. He qualified 8th on the grid after complaining about not being able to switch the tyres on enough to get the performance he wanted, but the sister Mercedes lined up on pole. He went backwards in the race to eventually become one half of the crash that brought out the red flag on the infamous Lap 32. While the crash wasn’t his fault, he shouldn’t have been in the position to get involved in it in the first place. While Hamilton makes driving an F1 car look easy at times, Valtteri makes it look bloody hard at times and this was one of those occasions. He is already 28 points behind his teammate in the drivers’ standings and is driving himself towards that dreaded ‘number 2’ driver role in this championship fight.
16. Antonio Giovinazzi (+1)
A frustrating end to the weekend for Antonio as a mechanical issue meant he had to pit late on in the race when he was running 10th and on course for his first points of the season. He was out-qualified by Kimi and out-raced but he did deserve that point after staying out of trouble and not making any mistakes.
17. Sebastian Vettel (-2)
Another weekend Vettel would rather forget but will need to analyse closely if he is to quickly change his fortunes around. The thin silver lining would be that a brake by wire failure on the way to the grid meant that the car can be blamed for Vettel’s time penalty – for not being in position with 5 minutes to go before race start, having to start in the pit lane, his lack of race pace and his retirement with 2 laps to go. He did make it out of Qualifying 1 which is an improvement on Bahrain but he isn’t in this sport to start 13th.
18. Mick Schumacher (-+)
A pretty anonymous weekend for the German driver apart from an embarrassing crash behind the safety car due to some over-enthusiastic weaving on the main straight. Luckily for him he was already at the back so only lost 1 position and was able to catch up once he pitted for a new front wing. He did beat his teammate on both days pretty convincingly despite that crash and that is all he can do at the moment.
19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)
I was pleasantly surprised by Latifi’s Saturday performance to put his Williams 14th on the grid and even got through Qualifying 1 in 11th. However, his Sunday ended in clumsy fashion as he spun at Aqua Minerale on Lap 1, didn’t look both ways when re-entering the track, got clipped when he drifted across onto Mazipin’s racing line up the hill and destroyed the front of his Williams to bring out the first safety car of the race.
20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)
Slowest in qualifying and last in the race is fitting for the last placed driver on this list. Apart from being involved in Latifi’s accident, which wasn’t his fault, not much to say about his race apart from that its good he finished this one to get much needed experience under his belt.
The Perfect Formula 