Welcome to the twentieth edition of my F1 driver POWER rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition after the Sao Paolo Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here.
What a difference two weeks makes in Formula 1. After the Mexican Grand Prix, Max Verstappen and Red Bull were sitting pretty with a nineteen point lead but after two Hamilton wins in a row in Brazil and Qatar, the lead is back to just over the seven point difference between a 1st and 2nd place finish. We could go into the season finale in Abu Dhabi with the two title rivals level on points, what an event that would be – the ultimate head to head.
Every weekend brings new drama and heightened tensions between the two juggernauts of Formula 1 2021. This week it was a 5-place grid penalty for Verstappen after he was judged to have ignored double waved yellow flags on his final run in Q3. While the yellows weren’t massively clear and there was confusion about where exactly the yellow zone was, it felt like a slam-dunk once replays showed him passing a yellow flag zone and not slowing down when passing Pierre Gasly’s stricken Alpha Tauri on the pit straight. Valtteri Bottas was also judged guilty but only given a 3-place penalty as it was only a single yellow when he passed through. This caused Christian Horner to say some unsavoury things about the marshals and stewards which got him a smack on the wrist from the FIA and for the phrase ‘The pot calling the kettle black’ to pop into my head. The battle to control narrative has been rampant this year but Horner overstepped the mark on this occasion. On the other side of the fight, Toto Wolff came out with strong words to say that the recent media talk about the slide of Mercedes has ‘woken the lion’, referring to the team and their seven-time World Champion driver and that they have some ‘spicy’ equipment (that engine) in the bag to help lead them to another unprecedented title.
On track, Hamilton and Mercedes had the edge as the best package on the grid and they took advantage with a pole to lights performance. Once Max had been demoted to seventh (he qualified on the front row) it felt like it was damage limitation to get back in range of Hamilton. It was thought that if he didn’t get in front at the start anyway, Hamilton had enough in the bag to win regardless. Max made a great start and while everyone went for the wide line at Turn 1, he went tight, found grip and moved up to fourth once Alonso slammed the door at Turn 2. Max did get past Alonso and Gasly for P2 after 5 laps with around an 8-second gap to Hamilton. What the two title rivals would go on to do was consistently drive 1.5 – 2 seconds faster than the rest of the grid, as Martin Brundle said in commentary – these two were not just in a different race, but a different formula. I am going to keep banging on about what sets drivers apart in a sport supposedly ruled by machines and this is an example. They take the car and beat everyone else into submission with it while making it look easy. They finished a minute ahead of the rest of the field in 57 laps.
Behind them, the standout performance was Fernando Alonso who secured his first podium since 2014, which is before Max Verstappen came into F1, to give it a bit of context. Alonso benefitted from the grid penalties but took full advantage with a great move around the outside of Gasly at Turn 2 and used the one stop to perfection to beat Perez for that final step on the podium. This also helped Alpine’s fight for fifth in the constructors. Speaking of Constructors, McLaren had another torrid weekend to lose even more ground to Ferrari after Norris suffered a late puncture while running in 4th. The secondary curbs proved a bit too much for the tyres as both Williams drivers and Valtteri Bottas got punctures which I don’t mind, the tracks should push the cars and drivers to the limit.
We move into the final two races of the season with both championships finely balanced and its just the way we like it. We go to essentially two new tracks (Abu Dhabi’s layout has been changed significantly which will make it 10 seconds quicker) which means we enter the unknown just at the right time for us, the viewers. Now, on to the rankings.
After Qatar Grand Prix (20 of 22)
1. Lewis Hamilton (+1)
Hamilton moves to the top of this list as the momentum is well and truly on his side after two wins in a row and he has closed the gap to Verstappen to 8 points. It is also expected that the Jeddah track in Saudi Arabia should suit the Mercedes with their fresher engine in Hamilton’s car. He looked the standard in Qatar and wasn’t troubled in the race to take his 5th win of the season. He will go into the last two races full of confidence and probably the slight favourite at this point.
2. Max Verstappen (-1)
Once Max got demoted on the grid, it took away any real chance of winning the race as long as Hamilton and Mercedes didn’t make any mistakes, which they didn’t. He got a great start and placed his car cleverly to get up to 4th and then quickly passed Alonso and Gasly. Once he was behind Hamilton, he wasn’t able to close and Red Bull tried the two stop strategy but Mercedes just shadowed them to bring it home. While Max is so strong mentally, this change in momentum must be worrying and something Red Bull need to get on top of if they don’t want Hamilton winning a title they probably should secure based on the statistics.
3. Charles Leclerc (-+)
Charles struggled during qualifying to the bafflement of himself and the team to line up 13th. It was discovered post qualifying that he had a crack in his chassis that would have been unsettling the car. He luckily didn’t have to change it, they could fix it under FIA regulations and he kept his 13th place grid slot. He had a relatively quiet afternoon but used the one stop to jump cars and get into the points, finishing 8th and only a second behind his teammate who started 5th. More solid points for Ferrari in their fight with McLaren and his individual battle with Norris for 4th in the Drivers.
4. Lando Norris (-+)
Lando can’t seem to catch a break at the moment. His race was ruined on Lap 1 in Sao Paolo and his race was ruined late on in Qatar when he had to make an extra stop due to a puncture to his Papaya-mobile which put him out of the points. He was able to get back into them for 9th but he was running 4th when his tyre failed. This would have been much needed points, McLaren have only scored 4 points in the last 4 races, which is the same as Alfa Romeo to put that into context. Not form to secure third place and I think that is already out of reach.
5. Carlos Sainz (-+)
Sainz once again was the leading Ferrari in qualifying and race in Qatar. He qualified 5th and finished 7th, which is maybe one space lower than he would have liked, letting Stroll get ahead of him. More consistant performing from the young Spaniard though.
6. Pierre Gasly (-+)
It was all looking peachy for Gasly after qualifying. He was promoted to the front row after Verstappen and Bottas’ penalties but that was where the fun ended for him. Ironically, it was his puncture and subsequent stoppage on the track that caused them to get the penalties in the first place. He pitted early after going backwards from second and was put into traffic where he couldn’t or wasn’t able to move through the field and by the flag he was out of the points in 11th. His fastest lap time would indicate that he just didn’t have the outright pace in the race to really trouble big points.
7. Fernando Alonso (+2)
That was a classic Alonso performance in Qatar. He dragged every ounce of performance from his car on a technical track that rewards bravery, consistency and precision – Alonso’s bread and butter. He was instantly quick on this new circuit and was rewarded with a 3rd place starting spot. His move around the outside of Gasly at Turn 2 was beautiful, he found a line that just gave him so much more grip and bravely took to the curbs to complete it. He probably caught Gasly napping as well. Once he sniffed a podium with the one stop, he never looked like losing it, even with Perez closing at the end. I think he still would have finished 3rd without the late virtual safety car. His first podium since 2014 is tragic for a driver of Alonso’s quality but it is probably his career decisions that have let him down in that regard. A Hamilton, Verstappen, Alonso podium is one that we should have seen way more than the solitary one occasion in Qatar.
8. Sergio Perez (-1)
Not getting through to Q3 in Qatar in a Red Bull was criminal from Perez and ruined his chances of a podium finish, or to help his teammate pressure Hamilton from the front. He did have a spirited fight back to 4th but wasn’t close enough to Alonso to catch up in the end. What he did do was secure more points in the Constructors fight they are desperate to win.
9. George Russell (-1)
George outperformed his teammate all weekend but was one of the victims of the curbs in Qatar. He was nowhere near the points all race so the puncture really didn’t effect things for him. Two more races and then it’s go time for Mercedes in 2022.
10. Esteban Ocon (+3)
Ocon got into Q3, albeit not quite as high as his teammate but used the one stop strategy to gain spots and do well to hold onto them. He partially repaid the favour to Fernando, after he kept Hamilton behind long enough in Hungary for Esteban to win that race, with a shorter defense of Perez but it was spirited and did effect the Mexican’s progress. He finished 5th which completed Alpine’s 2nd best result all season.
11. Daniel Ricciardo (-1)
Daniel keeps his spot mainly because I didn’t feel Ocon deserved to go up three spots. Daniel had a torrid time in Qatar. He was nowhere near getting out of Q2 on Saturday and didn’t trouble the points on Sunday, even finishing behind his teammate who got a late puncture. He is just inconsistent, his performance are so track based, it is hard to judge. You know what, he can go below Ocon, I’ve convinced myself.
12. Lance Stroll (+2)
A great race from Stroll who started 12th on the mediums and was able to gain places at the start and then had the pace to keep his tyres in range for a one stop strategy. His move around the outside of Tsunoda was lovely and he pushed on from there. He would end the race in 6th after holding off Sainz for a lot of the race and only half a second behind Ocon in 5th. He needed that performance after a run of poor drives.
13. Valtteri Bottas (-2)
Bottas was arguably unlucky to get a penalty but the rules are the rules. He didn’t help himself though with a rubbish start that dropped him from 7th to 11th and got him stuck behind slower cars. He struggled to get past initially but once he did, he showed good pace and was on course to enter the podium fight when his left front tyre let him and itself down. It would take him over a minute to get back to the pits and he would eventually retire to save the car. While he hasn’t performed as he would like, he does seem to get the misfortune at Mercedes, similar to Barrichello at Ferrari in the early 2000s.
14. Sebastian Vettel (-2)
Vettel outperformed with teammate in qualifying but that was probably his downfall in Qatar. This meant he started the race on the soft tyre, starting 10th and wasn’t able to do the one stop strategy, like his teammate. He did still come home in 10th for a point and a double points scoring event for the team.
15. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)
Yuki showed more of his one lap pace in Qatar but it was the same story on Sunday as in Sao Paolo, he didn’t have the consistant pace to keep up with the points battle. However, this time his performance was much less crashy. When we saw him during coverage it was usually being overtaken which is unfortunate. One thing in Yuki’s favour is that he did match his teammates fastest time in the race, which is probably not a common occurrence this season.
16. Mick Schumacher (+1)
Mick outqualified his teammate by 2.4 seconds and disappeared in the race which is a slam dunk in the Haas battle for supremacy. The race performance feels familiar but the qualifying difference was seismic. I know the car is bad but they are both driving it and that gap is bigger than the rest of the field combined, by 0.9 seconds, its not even close.
17. Nicolas Latifi (-1)
The weekend was going as you would expect for Nicolas Latifi until a late puncture at literally the worst place to get it – just as you pass the pitlane entry. As if like magic his tyre started to visibly inflate on the replay as he past the aforementioned pitlane entry and he had to complete more than a lap with only three functioning tyres. By the time he got back to the pits, they decided to retire the car as the front left wasn’t all pointing in the right direction.
18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)
Kimi was knocked out in Q1 and only made up spots from his 16th place start due to retirements ahead. He slowly got away from his teammate in the race and was pressurising Russell until the Williams got a puncture in the late stages. The Alpha – Williams battle seems their level at the moment.
19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)
Giovinazzi mainly shadowed Raikkonen during the weekend and also only moved up the grid through retirements ahead to come home 15th, be it 200 seconds behind his teammate. With the lower teams in F1 looking towards 2022, the Alpha isn’t getting any better and both drivers are leaving so it does feel like their season is just fizzling out.
20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)
Another embarrassing comparison with his teammate in Qatar for Mazipin. 2.4 seconds is ridiculous but I have already shared my thoughts on that in his teammate’s section. In conclusion, that sums up his season.
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