Author: JL

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Zandvoort Edition

Welcome to the thirteenth edition of my F1 driver POWER rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition after the Belgian Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here.

I knew the race in Zandvoort, where the Dutch Grand Prix returned after thirty-six years, would be Mental Max Mania but the Dutch fans even topped my expectations and experiences of them. It was amazing, it doesn’t matter who you support on the grid, that level of enthusiasm, passion and energy will always be contagious. The grid was looking and sounding like a festival of speed with the dance music beating in the background, challenging the starting engines on the track and it seemed like an orange flair was constantly lighting up the stands. It did look very cool passing over the track as the drivers came into the stadium section at the chicane towards the end of the formation lap.

Unfortunately, as was expected, the on track action did not live up to the weekend’s atmosphere with overtaking limited to the first lap and Sergio Perez perfecting around the outside of Tarzan (Turn 1). In the race, Verstappen was just too quick for the Mercedes behind, with him being able to react to every move they threw at him. Behind, once the first lap had been sorted out, it was largely processional with no clear overtaking on this high speed, flowing track. It was going to either be chaos, with the close walls and high speed nature of the track, or a procession. Unfortunately this year we got more of the latter but I am looking forward to seeing what it has in store for us next year. What we do know is that the Dutch fans will bring it, and bring it hard. Now, on to the rankings.

After Dutch Grand Prix (13 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (+1)

Young Max takes the top spot once more and after quite a long time of static at top of this list, I feel that the main two championship rivals will be going back and forth until the end. Verstappen looked focused and quick from the off in Zandvoort and did not relent his control. It looked like he had another two tenths in his qualifying lap with an error and a DRS failure getting in the way and then was able to keep Hamilton at a three second gap for the majority of the race. It was a mature, calm drive that should scare Hamilton fans, Max is becoming the real real deal. The perfect home weekend for the Dutchman who takes the lead in the championship once more.

2. Lewis Hamilton (-1)

Hamilton very nearly silenced the partisan Dutch crowd on Saturday with a lap that Toto Woolf said outperformed the car. It is that sort of lap that separates a Hamilton from a Bottas. They were neck and neck all qualifying and then he finds three and a half tenths to nearly take pole away from the clearly quicker Red Bull. He needed to be starting ahead of Max to have a proper chance at victory and once the race got going, he just couldn’t get close enough to really challenge. He gains second place and the point for fastest lap and moves on to Monza where Mercedes should put up more of a fight.

3. Lando Norris (-+)

Norris keeps his podium place after a tricky weekend for McLaren all round with a mysterious lack of pace compared to their rivals. He missed out on Q3 for the first time this season due to two red flags at the end of Q2 prematurely ending his lap attempts, but he was also just not that quick before, he was the driver on the bubble in Q1. This meant he was stuck in traffic for most of the race but used his time in clear air effectively to jump Russell and Stroll. He went long on softs so was quick enough to get let through his teammate but unable to make any real inroads into the Alpine’s. I think his coming together with Perez was a racing incident, but Perez does like to try and overtake into closing wedges.

4. Charles Leclerc (-+)

It was a quiet race for Charles as he started fifth and finished fifth. The Ferrari’s looked quick, following their trend of performing at tight, twisty tracks, and they locked out the third row on the grid. Charles drove away from his teammate in the race in quite emphatic style but couldn’t get near Gasly for fourth. Ferrari take third place in the Constructors off McLaren in a nice points swing for them.

5. Pierre Gasly (+3)

Gasly is putting together a phenomenal season and one that deserves more credit or, at the very least, air time. He was barely visible in Zandvoort but quietly went about being the best of the rest which included Perez. If only we could know for certain but Gasly must be near the top of the list of drivers getting the most out of their cars this year. I think it would be a mistake from Red Bull if Gasly isn’t back in one of the main cars sooner rather than later.

6. George Russell (+3)

This feels a bit rogue from me but also feels right. After his front row start and ‘podium’ in Spa to now being confirmed in the second Mercedes seat next year. This guy is the hottest young property in F1 and has shown he can lead a team in his ability to pull Williams back into relevance. I think he comes in and jumps into the title fight next year if the Mercedes allows, which I expect it will. He was challenging the points on Sunday in Holland until a gearbox problem ended his race on the final lap.

7. Carlos Sainz (-1)

Even though he was beaten quite convincingly in Zandvoort in the race by Leclerc, I have Carlos above Perez because of his overall performance in a new team and car this season. He is only two and a half points back from Leclerc going into Monza which should give both drivers a big boost with the Tifosi allowed back in to the stands, with Carlos leading the pair in the championship before Zandvoort. He has been very close in qualifying and putting in his own performances, but this round went to Leclerc.

8. Sergio Perez (-3)

Perez has been confirmed for Red Bull for 2022 and that keeps him up this list this week. He is lucky to be able to have another go, with the form of Pierre Gasly and the Bull’s recent happy trigger finger in this department, but it’s probably his experience going into a large regulation change that really helps. He was caught out by traffic on his final run in Q1 but wasn’t quick enough initially to not put himself at risk and was knocked out. He did well getting back through the field from the pitlane but so did Alex Albon when he was in that position (Shoutout Albon for getting a Williams drive).

9. Fernando Alonso (-2)

Alonso drops through no fault of his own. External forces out of his control have submitted him to his temporary fate. It was a great performance by him in Zandvoort and I did think long and hard about putting him above Perez. Alonso will also be back in 2022 and if Alpine can produce a car that can sniff a victory, I wouldn’t put it past Alonso to start digging. His first laps this year have been a thing of beauty and his effort in Zandvoort was right up there. It was the perfect blend of chaos, car control and decisiveness from the Spaniard. He went from ninth to seventh and that helped define his race as he got ahead of his teammate and ran in mainly clear air until he caught Sainz late on to nick sixth, while his teammate finished ninth. That is the sort of sneakily soul crushing performance Alonso can deal out to his teammate’s on a weekly basis.

10. Esteban Ocon (-+)

A frustrating race for Ocon I would imagine after beating his teammate in qualifying. He claimed to be quicker that Alonso in the early stages but when it mattered, Alonso pulled away and didn’t look back. He may well have been ahead at the start but got pinched in the inside of Turn 3 and lost places. Not much else to say here as it was a pretty straightforward after that.

11. Sebastian Vettel (-+)

Seb caught blocked by both Haas’ at the final corner which knocked him out in Q1. The traffic was solid at the final corner all session and unfortunately the chair was pulled from underneath Vettel when the music stopped. With overtaking opportunities limited and a mid-race spin at banked corner number one, his progress was stopped at thirteenth just behind his teammate. He heads now to Monzo for the first time since his split with Ferrari so I am sure he will want to put on a good show.

12. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

Ricciardo nearly didn’t start the Dutch Grand Prix as he struggled to find first gear and nearly aborted before having to use the left-hand downshift paddle to get the gearbox going. This was not ideal and then he had the stress of the car smoking during the opening laps. You can forgive him for being a bit flustered and that could affect his performance but his teammate was able to use his tyres and strategy better to jump him from thirteenth with the team asking Daniel to let him through. His teammate was stuck behind a slower George Russell for thirty odd lap as well. He can’t let Norris take over this team if he wants a shot at a championship.

13. Lance Stroll (+1)

With his teammate caught out in Q1, we don’t have a comparison but it looked like Q2 was as much as the Aston Martin could give this weekend, with Stroll caught in traffic all race to have a quiet one. He finished where he started in twelfth, frustrated behind Russell for pretty much every lap until the Brit retired, they even pitted on the same lap after miscommunication on the Aston Martin side. We are getting to the stage the season where teams like Aston Martin will have their sights firmly on next year.

14. Nicolas Latifi (+3)

Latifi has taken a step towards George Russell the last couple of races, getting the car into Q2 more often and looking involved in the race. Both Williams crashed in Q2 but the fact both of them were in it in the first place shows the progress Williams, and Latifi has shown. He has also been confirmed for next year at Williams where more progress is expected with the regulations change. He deserved this boost in rating, as others around him stay static.

15. Yuki Tsunoda (-1)

Yuki has still yet to properly get going in the Alpha Tauri and this was another weekend he was behind his teammate by quite a way. He lined up fourteenth and retired in the race. He is confirmed at the team next year so gets another crack with the new regulations where he hopes to take a big step.

16. Valtteri Bottas (+1)

Valtteri showcased why he wasn’t able to keep his Mercedes seat in Zandvoort as he was just not able to have enough pace to get involved in the fight and then didn’t put up much of a fight when Max tried to overtake for the lead. He did hold him up enough to get Lewis close but not close enough. That is what Bottas’ job has become unfortunately, and that must disheartening to any driver. He has been confirmed on a multi-year deal at Alfa Romeo from next year which I am happy about. Bottas is a really quick driver and can help that team progress, it is just brutal at the top and he didn’t quite have what it took. Watching some 2014-2016 races will reacquaint yourself with what Valtteri Bottas can do, not going against the greatest of his generation.

17. Kimi Raikkonen (-2)

The Iceman announced his retirement from Formula 1 before Spa and what a ride it has been. He will go out a fan favourite, a cult legend and one of the quickest men to ever step foot in any sort of motorised vehicle because, believe me, he has tried them all. Unfortunately he has been ruled out of Zandvoort and Monza due to testing positive for Covid-19. What a shame to miss the Tifosi for the last Ferrari World Champion, but hopefully he recovers quickly and we get him for the remaining races of what has been one of the most entertaining careers in F1 history.

18. Mick Schumacher (-+)

Mick beat his teammate on track and off it this weekend with the verbal warfare raging in the media pen just as hot as on the tarmac. There was blocking galore from the Haas’; from both blocking Vettel in Q1, to Mazipin nearly driving Schumacher into the pitwall with a late defensive move as his teammate looked to overtake. Mick shrugged it off and got on with his race while his teammate retired. You just feel Mick is making this team his own, Mazipin is starting to see it and getting flustered. Unfortunately for Mazipin, the name Schumacher is a hard one to go against in the F1 paddock.

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

Antonio had a brilliant qualifying session, starting in seventh but the race just fell apart with reliability issues costing him again. He lost places at the start to be dropped into the pack and got a right rear puncture very shortly after his first pit stop to just compound the issues. This cost him too much time and he dropped out of contention for points. Finally, Alpine Academy driver Guanyu Zhou is now looking the odds on favourite for his seat which would end an F1 career that never really got going unfortunately.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Here we go again with Mazipin. He doesn’t learn that you can’t be making defensive moves like that in F1. He reacts and moves way too late and could have caused an airplane crash if his teammate had kept his foot in on the main straight on Lap 1. He complains all over the radio that his team is against him but then seemingly doesn’t want to play the team game, and never really has. This has not been the first time he has been overly aggressive with his teammate. You can see why the team would gravitate towards polite, professional and fast Mick Schumacher without Mazipin giving them a helping hand.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Hungary Edition

Welcome to the eleventh edition of my F1 driver POWER rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition after the British Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here. 

Just when I thought I had seen everything in F1 after 20 odd years of watching, the F1 gods chuck Hungary 2021 at me. The first time I have ever seen only one car take the lights and it really should have been none, as much as Toto Wolff wants to defend it, it was the wrong decision to send Hamilton to pole position. This weekend just reinforced Murray Walker’s famous quote “Anything can happen in Formula 1, and it usually does” and reinforced my view that any race is livened up by wet weather. A wet morning meant intermediates were the tyre to start on and that was a big factor in the chaos that would ensue once Bottas missed his braking point and went straight to the scene of the accident. He took quite a few people with him as well. With lots of the front runners either out or heavily damaged, it gave the midfield a golden chance for glory, which Esteban Ocon grabbed with both hands. He got a helping hand from his teammate who admirably defended from Lewis Hamilton for ten laps which proved vital to keep the other Alpine in the lead. There were lots of good drives all down the field in Hungary, with some notable performances from both Williams, a great Carlos Sainz comeback and a mature Sebastian Vettel drive which couldn’t quite take the win from Ocon. There was even drama after the chequered flag as Vettel was disqualified for not having enough fuel in his car at the end, an unfortunate slam dunk of a penalty. We now have a month break to regroup, review and come back stronger at Spa in September. Now let’s get into the rankings.

After Hungarian Grand Prix (11 of 23)

1. Lewis Hamilton (+1)

Hamilton takes the lead on this list again after quite a few weeks in Max Verstappen’s shadow. His pole position kept him out of the carnage behind to take an easy lead into the second corner. It should have been an easy win but neither driver or team thought it best to pit at the restart and it dropped them to the back on Lap 4. However, what we saw after was a classically relentless drive with some great overtaking to haul himself back into the podium places using the two stop strategy well. Hamilton’s battle with Alonso was the highlight of the day, both drivers showing skill, respect and toughness to battle it out for ten laps before Lewis finally prevailed. Hamilton goes into the summer break in the lead of the championship, which he knows how to defend but he could be facing his toughest title run-in yet in the form of an uber-motivated Verstappen and Red Bull.

2. Max Verstappen (-1)

It’s been a tough stretch for Max Verstappen with him only scoring one point in two races while his championship rival has scored over forty. This could mean the end of his chances in another seasons but Max is still right in it and only eight points back. He was an innocent victim at Turn 1 when the right side of his car was ripped off by the equally innocent Lando Norris. He was able to battle his car back into the points to claim that singular notch, which may turn into two if Vettel’s disqualification is confirmed. That could prove crucial come the end of the season. I bet Max can’t wait to get back in the car in Spa and release some pent up frustration on that legendary circuit.

3. Lando Norris (-+)

Speaking of Lando Norris, he was cruelly punished by the F1 gods for a brilliant start on Sunday. He nailed the revs and wheel spin to climb to third from sixth by the braking zone at Turn 1. This is where it would all go wrong, as Bottas out broke himself and crashed into the back of the McLaren which then caused it to crash into Verstappen’s Red Bull which ended Norris’ race and his scoring streak. The steak came to an end at fifteen which became a new McLaren record. He will move on from this, with the summer break probably coming at a good time, so that by the time we get to Spa, this will be a distant memory.

4. Charles Leclerc (-+)

Charles was another driver who was punished for their great start to the race. He was driving into second place when Lance Stroll decided to use Leclerc’ car as his personal braking apparatus and ended his race way too prematurely. If Charles had got through the first corner he may well have won the race. Leclerc, however was keeping up his great form before that notorious moment so doesn’t deserve to be displaced from his spot on this list.

5. Sergio Perez (-+)

Sergio was not on the pace of his teammate all weekend, at some points a second off the pace. He recovered to fourth on the grid and started well, getting past the slow starting Bottas, but I bet Perez wished he hadn’t. Once Bottas had hit Norris, we wasn’t done there. He disengaged from the Brit and went straight into the Mexican who was calmly minding his own business on the outside. This would also end Perez’s race before it had really begun and Red Bulls streak of bad luck continues.

6. Carlos Sainz (-+)

Sainz is probably annoyed he didn’t win in Hungary. He got stuck behind the slower Latifi and Tsunoda in the early stages of the race and lost too much time to the leaders. To compound the issue, he then missed out on the podium celebrations by two laps after getting passed by Hamilton, but he would eventually get the position back once Vettel had been disqualified. Sainz has driven beautiful for Ferrari in his first half season and he should take great confidence into the second half to try and grab even more podiums.

7. Fernando Alonso (+1)

Fernando produced some of the best defending of a position that I have seen in a long time to keep Lewis Hamilton behind for ten laps on newer, softer tyres. Fernando was aggressive but not unreasonable in his positioning of his car into Turns 1, 2 and 4 that helped win his teammate the race. Once Hamilton got past, he was three seconds quicker, showing us the job Fernando was doing. He is looking really comfortable in this Alpine now so we should expect more of the same in F1 2021 part 2 when we return at Spa.

8. Pierre Gasly (-1)

Gasly was obstructed by the crash ahead of him on Lap 1 but did massively out-brake himself on his own so the crash may have just spared his blushes. He had a good recovery drive to beat his teammate to the flag, who was right at the front of the restart queue while Gasly was near the back. The Alpha Tauri does seem to have lost a step compared to their rivals in front but Gasly keeps getting it into the points. He only drops because of Alonso’s eye catching drive.

9. George Russell (-+)

It has finally happened!!! I predicted it would be a great chance for George to get his first Williams points in Hungary and I’m overjoyed I was correct, for his sake. One small downside is that his teammate did beat him to it but as George showed on the radio mid race, he is very much playing the team game, asking the team to prioritise Latifi who was in a much stronger position. If George isn’t announced as a Mercedes driver by Spa, I’ll be surprised.

10. Esteban Ocon (+3)

The biggest jump of this week goes to Ocon, and how can it not after his first F1 victory and one done in style as well. It wasn’t on true merit but once he got the opportunity, Ocon didn’t make any mistakes and kept the seemingly faster Vettel behind him for sixty odd laps. Ocon was bold enough to tell the team to pit him at the restart despite a front row start and with it all to lose by choosing the wrong decision. He made the right one however and it won him the race, that and a quick in-lap while Vettel tried to undercut him at the pit stops. He is the 111th winner of an F1 race which is how many years old Bilbo Baggins was celebrating in the first Lord of the Rings. It’s not relevant or useful but I find it interesting.

11. Sebastian Vettel (-+)

Another podium drive from Sebastian, even though he won’t be credited for it. He will be frustrated as he felt he should have won the Hungarian Grand Prix but couldn’t quite find his way past Ocon. The Aston did look the quicker car. However, it’s another confidence inducing drive from the 4 time World Champion who is really finding his feet in his new team. He kept out of trouble at the start which is what Aston Martin need him to do as his teammate is still susceptible to an accident or two; cough cough, wink, wink.

12. Daniel Ricciardo (-2)

Unfortunate for Daniel in Hungary as he was taken out just when it looked like the seas had parted and he was staring at second place on the road which could have become first when Hamilton and Mercedes messed up the restart. However, he was hit by Stroll and Leclerc which damaged his floor and scuppered his pace. The stat sheet will point to another poor performance by the Aussie but this was just a case of wrong place at the wrong time.

13. Yuki Tsunoda (+1)

Tsunoda benefitted from the carnage on Lap 1 and the restart to get up to fourth for the majority of the race. However, he didn’t quite have the pace to hold onto the bigger places but did get back ahead of Latifi to come home a great sixth place for Alpha Tauri. He is still making too many unnecessary mistakes in practice and Quali but this will give him a nice confidence boost going into the summer break. He needs to get himself up the grid so that he can get in the fight with his teammate and not be stuck in traffic or crashes.

14. Lance Stroll (-1)

Minus one is probably generous for Lance as a rookie error created a clumsy looking crash to take out Leclerc and ruin Ricciardo’s race in Hungary. He got a great start from twelfth but out-broke himself and as a result gets a five place grid penalty in Spa, which is fully deserved. It did help his teammate so I’m sure the team will be fine with that.

15. Kimi Raikkonen (+1)

Kimi made it into the points in Hungary to double his score for the year when he caught and passed Ricciardo towards the end, despite having a penalty for an unsafe release against his name. Very little of him was shown on TV so that’s all I’ve really got for the Iceman. He does seem to be the Alfa Romeo to score points when they are on offer.

16. Valtteri Bottas (-1)

Bottas was the instigator of the carnage on Lap 1 and must take the blame. He simply out broke himself and slid into others. He also gets a five place grid penalty for Spa which could and maybe should have been ten. Not what he needs when his bosses are deciding to hire him or not for next year. Unfortunately for Bottas I think he will be driving in different overalls next year.

17. Nicolas Latifi (+2)

What a result for Latifi and one that may keep him in F1 next year. He was sitting as high as third for a long time on Sunday but the Williams just doesn’t have the pace to keep it. He was able to come home in seventh to collect the most points Williams have scored in a race since 2018. He had a fantastic first lap which won him those points. Fair play Nicolas, fair play.

18. Mick Schumacher (-1)

Mick showed some good race craft and fight in his battle with Verstappen in Hungary but the Haas just didn’t let him properly have a go at it. What we learnt was that there is no way the younger Schumacher is going to get bullied out of positions. His Dad can be proud.

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-1)

A tough weekend for Gio. His teammate was once again able to pick up points and these crazy races are where Antonio needs to show his metal. It’s about grabbing points and showing yourself, neither of which Giovinazzi did. After two years, I’m still not sure if he’s good enough for F1 and I believe Ferrari don’t know either.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

For the first time this year I actually feel sorry for Mazipin. He was taken out in the pit lane when Alfa Romeo let Kimi Raikonnen go into his path, snapping his front suspension. He did beat his teammate in qualifying for the second time in three races which shows promise and progress. Let’s see if Haas can give the boys a car to show themselves in the second half of the season.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Britain Edition

Welcome to the tenth edition of my F1 driver POWER rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition after the Austrian Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here. 

Well well well, where to start with the British Grand Prix weekend. One thing I will say is that it was a joy to see a full capacity crowd making their voices heard and bringing back the atmosphere. There is nothing on the F1 calendar to match the enthusiasm and influence of the British crowd, except I feel the Dutch are going to give it a good go in Zandvoort. I am not going to start with ‘The Incident’ on Sunday but with the piloted ‘sprint’ format. A quick summary will tell you that traditional Saturday qualifying was replaced by a 17 lap sprint to form the grid, whose grid was itself decided by a qualifying session on Friday that Hamilton sensationally headed from Verstappen. This new format definitely invigorated Friday and created action in more of the sessions but it did feel like it made one lap qualifying a bit redundant. It also feels weird that Hamilton won’t be credited with pole as Verstappen won the sprint qualifying event but all new things take time to get used to. The sprint has potential and I don’t get the argument people have been making that without Alonso’s heroics it would have been dull – but it did happen, so you can’t complain it was dull. It’s like arguing that football is rubbish if you take away all the goals. Yes, obviously, that is the whole point of the sport.

Now on to ‘The Incident’, which would not have happened without the new format, or would have it been the other way around? In the traditional format Lewis would have been on pole on Sunday and Max could have gone for the gap at Copse, trying to assert his authority over the King. For the record, I think it was a hard racing incident. Hamilton had his car almost all the way alongside and Max noticed him but still turned in towards the apex after a correction. Yes it is a quick corner but if Max had enough time to correct and turn, he could have got out of it and lived to fight another day, something that Hamilton has learnt to do, circa Spain 2021 as a start. I think if both drivers had come out of Copse in one piece on Sunday with Hamilton ahead, Max may well have still won the race but I know for certain he would have left with some points (barring mechanical failure) and a bigger lead in the championship. These are all things Hamilton has learnt along his journey and built into his armour. Luckily for Max he has at least another 12 years in him, which is truly scary. We will see in Hungary what type of response Red Bull and Max Verstappen will give on track, which will set the tone for the rest of this championship and potentially into the next era in 2022.

After British Grand Prix (10 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

It was not the weekend Max was looking for from the British Grand Prix. He came into it with a thirty three point lead in the championship and left with it being cut to only eight. The new format didn’t help his cause as it gave Hamilton a second chance at trying to get ahead and it ended badly. He complained of understeer during Friday’s qualifying but it does look like the gap has closed between himself and Mercedes. Hamilton was on a blistering lap before running out of tyres at the final corner. He got off the line better in the sprint and then wasn’t troubled to take pole. We all know what happened on Lap 1 on Sunday but Max will recover, heck it will probably motivate him even more which is scary to think about. He will bounce back, the greats always do.

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

There is nothing like the British Grand Prix to get a Lewis Hamilton title push back on track. He used it in 2008 and 2014 to great effect and this edition has definitely swung the momentum of this championship back in his favour. However, Max is still the favourite for this championship so Mercedes still have a little to go to give Hamilton a car that can give him more of a regular chance, because the last races have been tough for them. Championships ebb and flow and we aren’t even half way through this one – how lucky are we!?

3. Lando Norris (-+)

Norris keeps his spot in third after a really good British Grand Prix. He is consistently best of the rest behind the Red Bulls and Mercedes and sometimes even in amongst them. His fifteen points scoring finishes in a row is a record for McLaren drivers, which is crazy, with some of the dominant and legendary car/driver combinations this team has had. We expect Lando to be right up there and not make any mistakes which is even more impressive when he doesn’t disappoint on a weekly basis. Put him in a Mercedes and Red Bull and that could really be interesting, he is getting to that level.

4. Charles Leclerc (+1)

It was almost the performance of the year, but Leclerc was caught with two laps to go by Hamilton and while the Monegasque will be hard on himself he performed phenomenally all weekend. He beat a Red Bull or a Mercedes in every session and by good margins. It would have been a popular victory either way if Charles had won on Sunday as the Silverstone crowd appreciate quality when they see it. If Ferrari can get their act back together, Leclerc has the ability to put them in the fight.

5. Sergio Perez (-1)

It was a sloppy weekend for Perez the instant he got too trigger happy on the throttle out of Becketts and spun into the gravel. He did well to stay out of the barrier but ruined his starting spot for Sunday’s race and the team decided to start him from the pitlane. He couldn’t get through the traffic in the race quick enough for Red Bull to prioritise him over taking a point off Hamilton for the fastest lap and he finished sixteenth. At least he did get that fastest lap.

6. Carlos Sainz (+1)

I am giving Carlos a bump up here because of his pace, which wasn’t really shown in his results. He was the unfortunate victim of a touch with George Russell on Lap 1 of the Sprint but made good progress to get back up to eleventh for the grid. He then rose again to sixth and may have challenged Norris’ fourth if he hadn’t got stuck behind Ricciardo. The pace is in the Ferrari, it nearly won the race, but I was impressed by Sainz’s resolve to get back up and score good points.

7. Pierre Gasly (-1)

It feels like this is the first time Gasly has been beaten by his teammate and was outside of the points. He complained of never really feeling comfortable in his car and it showed as he had a quiet weekend. He has deserved the benefit of the doubt and the Hungaroring should suit the Alpha Tauri better so expect this to be a blip.

8. Fernando Alonso (-+)

Fernando lit up the Sprint on Saturday as he rose from eleventh to fifth by the end of Lap 1 in a clinic of how to take advantage of space. I could give a good argument for him being the best first lap driver of all time, his precision, bravery and aggression are second to none in this regard. He was able to hold onto seventh on his degrading soft tyres and then did the same on Sunday to collect more points for Alpine. He is doing what he used to do for Ferrari, make himself a mischief and put his car in places it may not belong.

9. George Russell (-+)

George did his usual magic in qualifying but this time it was on a Friday. You could hear the crowd cheering him on all the way to eighth on the grid. What I liked is that Williams put him on an alternate schedule to give him a clear track and the spotlight and he did not disappoint, delivering twice when needed. Unfortunately for George, qualifying on a Friday means there are two opportunities for the faster cars around him to get ahead and that is what happened. He is still waiting for those tantalising first points in a Williams. Luckily for George, Hungary is another great opportunity for him to get them with its tight, twisty layout and difficulty to overtake on the only straight. Forty-ninth time is the charm.

10. Daniel Ricciardo (+1)

This is more like it from Ricciardo. He qualified right behind his teammate in seventh and progressed in both ‘races’ to finish the weekend with a respectable fifth and lots of points for McLaren in their fight against Ferrari. He was still a way off his teammate in the race; about fourteen seconds but that is better than it has been and there was no-one in between them this time.

11. Sebastian Vettel (-1)

Vettel was having a good weekend until he spun at the exit of Luffield while battling Alonso on Lap 1 of the race. It was another example of drivers simply losing the back end on their own, like Perez in the Sprint. The changes in regulations this year really have made the back end of the race all wriggly. It ruined his race after showing good pace and fight before that. He get awarded good guy of the month as well for his efforts tidying up after fans in the stands post-race.

12. Lance Stroll (-+)

Lance made up for a poor qualifying on Friday to get in the points by the end of the race, finishing eighth. He had some good scraps, in particular with Kimi Raikkonen. He was able to make up for Sebastian’s mistake to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

13. Esteban Ocon (-+)

A much needed weekend for Esteban at Silverstone and he continued his points scoring streak around the track. He is behind Alonso still and can become the forgotten Alpine quickly behind the highlight reel that is Fernando Alonso but this is a good reset after a tricky triple header. He started and finished ninth so not flashy but productive for the Frenchman.

14. Yuki Tsunoda (+1)

Yuki didn’t qualify well at Silverstone but made up for it with his race pace. He climbed up on Sunday to finish tenth and grab one point to put him into double digits for the year so far. Still yet to see him put together a complete weekend, maybe Azerbaijan, so that is what I need to see next. He is still a little anonymous as he learns the ropes but his performances in F2 were also a bit hot/cold.

15. Valtteri Bottas (-1)

If you needed another reminder where Mercedes have lay all of their eggs for this year’s championship, you could just look at how quickly they got Valtteri out of Hamilton’s way on his journey towards Leclerc. They played it off at the end as team play, which it is, but it can’t feel good for Valtteri and highlighted his place in this team, a handy sous-chef to Hamilton’s executive. He came home for a great double podium for the team to really close the gap in both championships.

16. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

Kimi did his best with this car but his frustration was clear at the end of race where he exclaimed that they just need to make the car faster when his engineer tried to see the bright side of a fifteenth place finish. He had a scrappy and clumsy spin which epitomised that frustration when he tried to keep his position at the Vale chicane and drove into an ever-closing gap.

17. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

14th, 15th and 13th were Antonio’s finishing positions at the British Grand Prix and this basically sums up his and Alfa Romeo’s position in F1 at the moment. We didn’t see much of him during the coverage and he didn’t trouble the points but he did beat his teammate so helps to pump up that stat.

18. Mick Schumacher (-+)

He beat his teammate in two of the three sessions but the longest and most important was the one he didn’t. Once again, you just don’t see the Haas’s during the weekend so it’s hard to say much about them. Mick can afford one weekend being beaten by his teammate.

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

Latifi was actually in Russell’s vicinity during the race after being comprehensively beaten during the qualifying events. He finished two places behind but was in view of his teammate for most of the race from what I saw. He needs to get into Q2 at least sometimes to show he has the pace to fight it with the big boys, which his teammate is growing into, and show he deserves to be in F1.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

He beat his teammate for only the second time this season after overtaking him on track after the first stops. This would have gone unnoticed until the Formula 1 YouTube page posted it’s ‘Top 10 Onboards’ video. That leaves the memes for this week but this is what he is going to have to do for the rest of the season to get the F1 fandom on his side.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Austria Edition

Welcome to the ninth edition of my F1 driver POWER rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition after the Styrian Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here. 

The race around the Red Bull Ring in Austria was better the second time around but the outcome was the same, if not an even more emphatic win for Max Verstappen and Red Bull. Behind him there was action all the way down the field to the very last lap which was a pleasant surprise after a rather mundane first attempt. Max was able to stretch his championship lead over Hamilton after Lewis didn’t even make the podium due to floor damage which lost him up to half a tenth a lap with Lando Norris being the happy recipient of that place after a phenomenal drive, a drive good enough for Driver of the Day honours and Hamilton’s praise. The fight for the midfield was as tight as always but spare a thought for George Russell who just missed out on his first points in a Williams after an equally phenomenal effort all weekend from the other young Brit in F1. The future is rather bright for British motorsport I think with those two at the wheel. Austria’s three DRS zones and short lap means drivers can’t really escape their chasers which is what the fans want to see. Maybe more tracks should put an extra DRS zone in, not necessarily in overtaking spots but I think it would help keep drivers together. I can hear the purist in my head objecting but I am going to back the other side of my brain this time.

After Austrian Grand Prix (9 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

Just when we thought an Austrian Grand Prix weekend couldn’t go any better for Verstappen, he goes ahead and records Red Bull’s first Grand Slam of the Turbo Hybrid Era – pole, fastest lap, win and leading every lap. He got a good start to fend off fellow front row-er Lando Norris and got away a second time at the safety car restart which effectively ended the action for Max. He won at a canter but I think Austria is truly the Red Bull ring, they have been the dominate team there for four years now. Even better for Max was that Hamilton dropped points, coming home fourth after floor damage, and forfeiting more points in the championship.

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

Hamilton and Mercedes looked out of ideas trying to beat Red Bull for the second weekend in succession. He was beaten by a McLaren in qualifying but did get himself back ahead and up to second until floor damage caused him to slow and lose places once again. Another fourteen points dropped in the championship. Mercedes need to bring some improvements or this championship is going to get away from them.

3. Lando Norris (-+)

What Norris did in Austria last weekend was nothing short of outstanding. He qualified on the front row and only missed out on pole at the final corner of his qualifying run. This was McLaren’s first front row start since Hamilton drove for the team and Norris’ performance does bring a young Hamilton to mind. These older-than-their years, consistent, mistake free performances and obvious blistering speed make me so excited for the future and I can’t wait to see what he does next. His driving on Sunday was exemplary, being able to keep up with both Mercedes and capitalising on Hamilton’s damage to take the podium. A really harsh penalty for ‘forcing another driver off the track’ forfeited five seconds and arguably cost him second as Bottas was only really able to get by in the pits because of the penalty. It felt like Norris had him covered. Bring on Silverstone and hopefully another chance at a podium.

4. Sergio Perez (-+)

Sergio was his own worst enemy on Sunday. He stuck his car into a closing wedge around the outside of Norris at Turn 4, went wide onto the gravel and lost six spots. He subsequently complained about it on the radio so Norris got a penalty but then he, Perez, pushed Leclerc twice off the track and received two 5-second penalties of his own. Ironically, Christian Horner didn’t see much wrong with Norris’ move and admitted that mid-race. However, as the stewards gave the first penalty, they were resigned to giving the next two. Happily for Perez, he was quick enough over the last ten laps after getting past Ricciardo to only lose one spot to the fast-ending Sainz and finish sixth, but a bit of a messy Sunday after being up in third after Qualifying.

5. Charles Leclerc (+1)

It is so close between Leclerc and the gentlemen below him on this list, I go back and forth in my head but I think Leclerc takes it this time. Neither Ferrari got into Q3 on Saturday trying to get through on the mediums but it gave them tyre choice which paid off on Sunday. Charles was able to get up to eighth from twelfth but was frustrated by Perez and then Ricciardo as it felt he could have got as high as his teammate, there was some pace left on the road for the Monegasque.

6. Pierre Gasly (-1)

Gasly qualified fantastically, once again, for sixth on the grid, but didn’t have the pace on Sunday and fell back to ninth by the flag. Both Alpha Tauri’s looked hard on their tyres in Austria which must have contributed to a tough afternoon. Still more points for Gasly though, he is a scoring machine at the moment.

7. Carlos Sainz (-+)

Sainz benefitted most from the Ferrari strategy of forfeiting Q3 for Sunday’s benefit. He started on the hard tyre and went really long, pitting on Lap 48 and capitalising on his tyre advantage to rise to fifth by the flag. His pace on the hards got better and better which was the key for his large overcut as he was able to stay in touch with the front running midfield cars and pick them off towards the end.

8. Fernando Alonso (+1)

Alonso should have been in Q3 and potentially could have rivalled Gasly’s best-of-the-rest slot but was massively blocked by Vettel at the final corner with the unfortunate German being last in a long F1 snake preparing their tyres for one last lap. Alonso showed his pace to move up in the race and snatch the final championship point from poor George Russell.

9. George Russell (+2)

I don’t know if I should rejoice or cry for George Russell after his two week stint in Austria. The second time round was better but even crueler than the first. Russell got that Williams into Q3 on the mediums to set himself up beautifully to score his first points for Williams. However, he was caught and passed by Alonso with two laps to go after running in the points for most of the race. It must be coming for Russell, he is driving so well but it feels like he is the horse trying to catch the carrot at the end of the stick, so close, yet so far.

10. Sebastian Vettel (-2)

Vettel was given a 3-place penalty for said blocking (see above) in Q2 and lined up eleventh without a free choice of tyre as he did get through to the final part of qualifying. Pitting early meant he got stuck in some traffic which cost him time and just as he was catching the back end of the points, he was driven into my Raikkonen on the last lap in a very strange incident. The pace is showing in this Aston Martin but it was a clumsy weekend all round for the team.

11. Daniel Ricciardo (+1)

His qualifying pace still leaves lots to be desired but Ricciardo looked more racy on Sunday for the third race in a row. It is small increments but the arrow is pointing up at the moment. He could have finished as high as fifth but had to settle for seventh, which is great progress from thirteenth. He needs to keep that arrow trending upwards and the Aussie is even resorting to sim racing in between races to help his progression, following the footsteps of his younger teammate.

12. Lance Stroll (-2)

Lance got his Aston into Q3, qualified ninth but fell back in the race and ended up thirteenth. A bit of a quiet afternoon for Stroll after a points scoring finish the first time around and mainly drops because of good progress from those around him.

13. Esteban Ocon (-+)

Ocon was sandwiched up at Turn 3 between an Alfa Romeo and a Haas and broke his front right suspension to end his race. His bad qualifying performance, starting seventeenth, put him at the back where drivers are always at risk of tangling. It was a tough triple header for Ocon with no points scored so he is hoping for better fortune at Silverstone, a track he has never failed to score points at.

14. Valtteri Bottas (+1)

History will show that Valtteri beat his teammate to finish second in Austria but he got a bit lucky to even get on the podium. He was behind Norris and Hamilton before they got penalties or issues that helped Bottas get ahead. He wont mind though as his pace was close to his teammate all weekend and it must be nice to have a good result for once.

15. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)

This was a much better weekend for Yuki, even though he faded in the race. He got into Q3, qualifying a great seventh but like his teammate, he did not have the pace to stay there and eventually dropped out of the points. He clearly has the pace but its all about consistency and that is what is stopping him get higher on this list. Like Ricciardo a couple of weeks ago, I need to see a couple of good races in a row for Yuki to move up and threaten the top ten.

16. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

A bizarre incident with Sebastian Vettel was the most we saw of Kimi in Austria part two but he had a solid race to make up for a poor qualifying. It seems a theme this year of Kimi recovering from a poor grid slot.

17. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

I am ashamed to say I did not really notice Antonio in Austria. He started fifteenth and finished fourteenth which is all I have got to say. He needs to get himself noticed.

18. Mick Schumacher (-+)

Another weekend for Mick took care of his teammate but the Haas is still quite a way off any other car so its really hard to say anything else than that. Mick will have to be patient for his time to come in F1.

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

A better race for Latifi who was actually in the mix and came home fifteenth but was still really last apart from the Haas’ and the last lap crashees.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Was announced this week that both Haas drivers are more than likely going to keep their drives for next year which isn’t wholly surprising with the amount of money they are bringing. Gives Mazipin more time to show himself. Got nothing really to say about his on track performance at the moment.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Styria Edition

Welcome to the eighth edition of my F1 driver POWER rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition after the French Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here. 

Well that looked pretty ominous. If Mercedes can’t catch up in this development race, and Toto Wolff has already indicated that they wont be bringing any more significant updates to this year’s car – focusing on next years big regulations change – then this championship is Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s to lose. Max never looked in doubt on Sunday as he won in as nearly dominate fashion as modern day f1 allows. It quickly became a two horse race in Austria Part 1, as the championship has, with the usual close midfield battle behind. It was not a classic but a race full of intrigue and some close racing. Lando Norris was my driver of the day as he once again got the most out of that McLaren for a routine fifth place and could have made life much harder for Perez and Bottas. Honourable mention goes to Kimi with a drive to eleventh after starting eighteenth proving the race craft is well and truly still there.

After Stryian Grand Prix (8 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

That looked pretty imperious from Max Verstappen. These straight line improvements that Red Bull have made have given them the best overall package in F1 and Max is putting it to good use. This is now 3 wins out of the last 4 and it should really be 4 for 4. He never looked troubled on Sunday and looked the quickest throughout the weekend. He has that feeling about him that Lewis has, you always expect him to go quicker in qualifying when needed and produce. He led from pole and didn’t really look back. Luckily for him, he gets to do it all over again this weekend.

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

This is a new feeling for Lewis Hamilton in the turbo hybrid era – he does not have the fastest car. He did however, get the most he could from the weekend with a second place and a fastest lap thanks to a late stop for soft tyres. It is a long season and Hamilton does seem to get better as the season goes on so it is far from over but are Mercedes sacrificing this season for the future?

3. Lando Norris (+1)

I am probably horrendously bias but that was one hell of a drive in Styria for Norris. He seems to love this place – he gained his first podium there last year. He legitimately outqualified a Red Bull to line up third after Bottas’ penalty and was holding off both Perez and Bottas before letting them through to run his own race. Stick a fantastic overtake on Perez into Turn 4 on Lap 1 into the mix and it was a thoroughly impressive weekend, one of many this season.

4. Sergio Perez (-1)

Sergio would be disappointed to miss out on a podium as a slow pitstop, when running in third, meant Bottas was able to get ahead when he made his stop a lap later. He tried the second stop and catch back up on fresher tyres but missed out on the opportunity by about one lap. Perez has now consistently entered the front running battle but his qualifying pace let him down this time.

5. Pierre Gasly (-+)

Pierre keeps his place on this list after getting caught by Leclerc on the way up to Turn 3 on Lap 1, causing a left rear puncture which ripped the rear of his car to pieces and ended his race. He qualified in sixth and only half a tenth off a Red Bull shows that his performance levels have not dropped.

6. Charles Leclerc (-+)

A race of two halves for Charles Leclerc but they happened to be in a 1:70 lap split. It was a clumsy move from Leclerc to cause the contact with Gasly and break his front wing as he tried to get into the Alpha Tauri’s slipstream. He dropped to the back by nineteen seconds but then set to righting his wrong. He climbed back to up to his starting position, seventh, with some great pace and nice overtaking. His strategy seems to have paved the way for the two-stop next week as the tyres are one step softer and he robbed the one stoppers at the edges of the points late on. One point of feedback for Charles moving forward – leave a bit more room when overtaking others, its not worth it.

7. Carlos Sainz (+1)

Carlos had a race to help forget the struggle around Paul Richard last week. He qualified twelfth but drove a really nice race to climb up to sixth by the flag, followed by his teammate. Sainz has turned into a really mature driver who rarely has days when he doesn’t finish ahead of where he started and this Ferrari is a quick car to give him the tools to do it.

8. Sebastian Vettel (-1)

A trickier weekend for Seb Vettel as he missed out on Q3 by just over two tenths of a second to line up fourteenth and didn’t really trouble the points, finishing in twelfth. He doesn’t drop because of the run of results that he has been on and I am trying to not be overly dramatic between these two Austria races.

9. Fernando Alonso (-+)

This is three points scoring finishes in a row for the Spaniard alongside three Q3 appearances. This is the consistent Alonso that F1 fans know and love (well some of them do) and he has shown up his teammate since they signed that long term deal. Another strong drive this weekend rewarded him with two points for ninth and we can expect more of the same at Austria Round 2.

10. Lance Stroll (-+)

Stroll may have pulled off pass of the weekend over Alonso around the outside at Turn 6 on the first lap which was a beauty. This would sum up Stroll’s race as this was all the progress he was going to make, coming home in eighth and collecting four points.

11. George Russell (+2)

As I say I am not going to get overly dramatic about the changes between the Austria double header, I go ahead and promote a driver who didn’t finish the race. Russell missed out on Q3 by 8 thousandths of a second to line up eleventh, outqualifying an Aston Martin, McLaren and Ferrari in the process. He then was running comfortably in eighth, chasing down Alonso before a power unit failure put pay to all his good work. What impressed me the most was that he was in the fight, not just holding people up and actually looking ahead in a Williams which has been the worst car in F1 for three years. He constantly shows up his teammates and surely his first points in a Williams aren’t far away.

12. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

Despite not qualifying for Q3 again, Daniel Ricciardo was having a good start to the race, finding himself in the points after navigating the first lap but had a power issue that dropped him down to thirteenth and was never able to recover. This was unfortunate as he was making good progress and the result wont look favourably on him but it does not show the whole picture,

13. Esteban Ocon (-2)

Ocon hasn’t been the same driver since he signed that three year contract extension with Alpine. He was knocked out of qualifying in Q1 and was not near the points on Sunday, finishing thirteenth. Alonso is showing that the car is capable of consistant points finishes, Ocon just needs to find that consistency.

14. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

Bottas was the victim of one of the more peculiar penalties in recent times – spinning in the pitlane. This does seem like an incident only Valtteri would get himself in to at the moment. This meant instead of starting second, he started fifth and this kind of ruined his race. He was stuck behind Norris and Perez and watched the front two disappear up the road. He was able to get ahead of both Norris and Perez to take another podium but these small mistakes are still costing Bottas dearly.

15. Yuki Tsunoda (+1)

This is the sort of weekend, if not better, that should be expected of Yuki Tsunoda in this car. He just missed out on Q3 but then got himself in the points with tenth after running in the points for most of the race. He was even very close to nabbing Alonso’s ninth place but just ran out of laps.

16. Kimi Raikkonen (-1)

Kimi produced a quality drive that was unfortunately not rewarded with points after he was caught by the charging Charles Leclerc with ten laps to go. He started eighteenth and finished eleventh which I feel Kimi does pretty much every week. They need to sort out their qualifying performance so they don’t have to pull so much back in the race.

17. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

Antonio was unlucky to be caught up in the Lap 1 scrap as he was caught and spun by Gasly at Turn 3 which put him to the back and he never really recovered, finishing in his starting spot – fifteenth.

18. Mick Schumacher (-+)

Another race, another commanding performance over his teammate and this time easily finished ahead of Latifi, after his puncture on Lap 1. The Haas is barely visible during the race weekend so we only have the stats to tell us how they went and this went resoundingly to Schumacher.

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

Another driver unlucky to be caught up in the Lap 1 incident as Latifi was also clipped by Gasly but given a puncture as well. He limped back to the pits and was only able to beat Mazipin to the line while his teammate continues to shine well up the field.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Even his team boss is taking the piss out of him in regard to the ‘Mazispin’ memes that are going around. It is good he has a sense of humour about it, but hey, he is a billionaire F1 driver, so not much to be unhappy about in that department.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – France Edition

Welcome to the seventh edition of my F1 driver POWER rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here. Sorry this edition is a bit late, some birthday celebrations got out of hand…

This was by far the best French Grand Prix since its return in 2018 at Paul Richard. While the others were bore-fests, this edition of the race was packed full of excitement, action, and suspense right to the chequered flag. It was also the biggest sign yet that this year’s championship should have the legs to go the distance and has the potential to be the best in years as this traditional Mercedes stronghold was finally breached by the rampaging Red Bull. The strong and changeable winds caused drivers to change their style from lap to lap and helped the effectiveness of the DRS which is a good combination for on-track action. We saw the four-car fight that we have been waiting for all year between Red Bull and Mercedes with Red Bull finally being able to deploy the second car, in this case Perez, to interfere and outfox the Silver Arrows. You really didn’t know which of them would win the race, it was that close. The usual midfield battle ensued behind with McLaren coming out on top and Ferrari having a race to forget. If there can be a good race in France this year, it bodes well for everywhere else and the double header in Austria next should be another cracker with the simple yet effective layout of the Red Bull ring cooking up lots of action in the last couple of years. Can Red Bull extend their advantage even further on home turf? We only have to wait five days to find out.

After French Grand Prix (7 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

A clean sweep of pole position, race win and fastest lap for Max at Paul Richard. The Red Bull looked the best car all weekend, especially with Max Verstappen at the wheel. The only real blip on the CV for this weekend was the loss of control into Turn 1 as he lost the backend, had to correct the slide and missed the turn. This relinquished the lead to Lewis Hamilton, but Max would retake it due to the powerful undercut and a fantastic out lap at the first round of pitstops. Once it was looking like the two-stop strategy was going to be quicker due to higher tyre degradation, Red Bull took the initiative and got Max on the faster mediums, even though they gave up track position. This caused the opposite to Barcelona with Max chasing Lewis this time and he retook the lead on the penultimate lap with a calm, consistent stint to haul the Mercedes back into view. The stint of a champion in waiting.

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

Hamilton once again recovered from a tricky Friday to stick his Mercedes on the front row. Him and Bottas switched chassis this weekend which put an end to the theories that Bottas’ car was somehow different, causing his bad form, as Lewis was quicker when it counted. He was given a gift by Verstappen at the first corner and did well to build a small gap of three seconds by the first pitstops. However, Mercedes left him out too long and he lost his lead to Verstappen. Once Max made his second stop, it left Hamilton no choice but to stay out and try to eke out the hard tyre to the end of the race, something he could not quite pull off and he had to settle for second. It was a great effort and his ability to keep the tyres in working range despite lots of wear was on full display in the race but it was just not quite enough to keep the Red Bull of Verstappen at bay.

3. Sergio Perez (-+)

This was another great example of why it was the right decision by Red Bull to hire Checo Perez this season. His different strategy – he went nine laps longer than the others – gave Mercedes two things to think about and it got him ahead of Bottas at the end. It also meant that Mercedes couldn’t perform the undercut without going through him, something that wasn’t a problem in Spain. Expect this four-way fight to happen quite often for the rest of the season as Perez seems to have found his consistent race pace in the Red Bull.

4. Lando Norris (+2)

Norris jumps back up to fourth on this list after a fantastic Sunday for the young Brit. He would have been disappointed to start eighth and then lost places at the start to find himself in tenth by the end of Lap 1. However, he was able to keep his tyres going better than those around him to stretch his first stint ten laps longer before putting on the hard tyre. He then carved his way through the pack with some characteristically opportunistic and brave moves to come home fifth with his teammate right behind to complete a great race for McLaren, on the weekend they commemorate Mansour Ojjeh, a long-time investor in McLaren and a big reason for their historical success.

5. Pierre Gasly (+1)

Another points finish for Gasly at his home race with a seventh place. Like I have said before, Q3 and points for the Frenchman are now the norm and expectation. He was frustrated at the end as he lost out to the undercut in the pitstops, and couldn’t get ahead of Ricciardo at the end but it shows his performance levels that seventh in an Alpha Tauri is a disappointment. The Red Bull Gasly is long in the memory now.

6. Charles Leclerc (-2)

A Sunday to forget for Charles Leclerc as the Ferrari ate through its front tyres and he was forced to make two stops, which dropped him to sixteenth by the finish as everyone but Verstappen did one stop. While both Ferraris qualifying in the Top 10 showed that their pace at the street circuits wasn’t a huge fluke, it was not their natural positioning at the moment. With their straight-line speed issues seemingly fixed, it looks like the next problem to deal with is tyre wear. This could be tricky as we head to Austria twice next which can be a tyre killer if the temperatures are high enough.

7. Sebastian Vettel (+1)

That is three points scoring finishes in a row now for Vettel after a tricky start to the season to say the least. He started twelfth but on the hard tyre compared to everyone in front who started on the mediums. It seems like Aston Martin are liking the alternate strategy at the moment as a way of finding their car’s strengths. This strategy was also helped by some bold overtaking by Sebastian, in particular a lovely move around the outside of Ocon at the first corner to get into the points. It looks like Vettel has really turned a corner with this car and it shows, not just in his results but also the lack of errors in his game over the last month.

8. Carlos Sainz (-1)

It was both Ferraris eating through their tyres on Sunday in France. While they qualified really well – Sainz in fifth – their pace dramatically dropped off as the tyres wore down during the race. It didn’t seem like they made any overtakes on Sunday but just kept falling back. This is an issue that needs to be fixed quickly but one that seems to have stumped Ferrari as Matteo Binotto revealed that they don’t yet know why they have such high tyre wear. While Sainz started fifth, he finished out of the points altogether by the flag which did scupper Ferrari’s progress in the fight against McLaren this year. Back to the drawing board for the Ferrari boys and girls as when one problem is fixed, another appears.

9. Fernando Alonso (+2)

Fernando kept the momentum going in France with another very solid all-round performance in France, completely outperforming his teammate for the second race running and in this one both of them finished, just emphasising the point. A Q3 appearance and a points finish are what Alonso expects from himself at this point and he seems to have got up to speed with the current regulations and class of car.

10. Lance Stroll (-+)

This was the second weekend in a row where Lance Stroll wasn’t able to get out of Q1 but this time it wasn’t because he crashed. He seemingly wasn’t able to get a lap in during the heavily interrupted qualifying session and lined up nineteenth for the second weekend in a row. However, this time he was able to make good progress up the field to gain a solitary point for his Aston Martin team. This car seems to be gentle on it’s tyres and the team have used that to good effect, going long in France and then having tyres to attack with at the latter stages.

11. Esteban Ocon (-2)

A sub-optimal weekend for Ocon at his, and the team’s, home Grand Prix. He was knocked out of qualifying in Q2 and was not able to trouble the points on Sunday in fourteenth while his teammate was in the game. This is a peculiar turnaround after a strong run of races for the Frenchman compared to Alonso but I guess blips like this can be expected in such a tight midfield battle. It will be interesting to see the battle between the two teammates during the double header at Austria to see who can assert themselves as the top dog moving forward.

12. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

Daniel was looking more of his punchy best in France, going from ninth on the grid up to sixth at the flag, with some nice overtaking and good use of the undercut to jump Gasly and Sainz at the first stops. The reason I haven’t moved him this week is that I want to see this type of performance repeated by the Aussie in Austria to see if this is now the Daniel Ricciardo to expect, hoping it wasn’t just a one-off in Paul Richard. His performance boost would solidify McLaren as the bonified third best team in F1.

13. George Russell (+1)

This could well have been Russell’s best performance in F1 so far, we just didn’t see any of it. Twelfth in this Williams around a track that requires good aero, balance and mechanical grip is something to talk about. This result was based on nothing but merit as well, there was no safety car or red flag to bunch up the pack, which makes it even more impressive. He was even able to overtake Tsunoda on track, showing that the Williams may have fixed its drag issues that have plagued them in one-to-one battles the last couple of years (when they have been in them). This should be seen as a massive step forward and hopefully they can build on this to get into the midfield battle more regularly.

14. Valtteri Bottas (+2)

On the face of it, it would look like another weekend where Bottas was beaten by his teammate in qualifying and the race, which he was. However, he gains some respect from me due to his forceful telling off of the team on the strategy. Mercedes have been very conscious of not giving one of their drivers an advantage on strategy or tyres while they have been battling themselves for the title but now they have Red Bull to worry about, they need to ease this policy. Bottas was telling them early on that two stops were the way to go in France and he was right. He was ignored and I think Mercedes cost themselves a double podium. They need Bottas firing on all cylinders if they are going to beat Red Bull in both championships this year and it does sometimes feel like Mercedes forget they have two cars in a race, focusing too much on Hamilton. If only Bottas had put up more of a fight against Verstappen when he came up behind, it looked like he wilted under the pressure to be honest.

15. Kimi Raikkonen (-2)

Apart from an action packed first lap where Kimi overtook multiple cars with some excellent car positioning and forward thinking, it was not a happy weekend for him or Alfa Romeo. Kimi started and finished seventeenth and it is hard to think of anything else more to write at this point. After some early season promise, they are lagging behind the midfield and falling towards the Williams.

16. Yuki Tsunoda (-1)

One step forward, two steps back for Tsunoda at the moment. Another rookie error put him in the barriers during qualifying and required him to start at the back due to a different floor having to be put onto the car. He just needs to put together a quiet, smooth weekend to build his confidence and hopefully two attempts at Austria will give him that. The talent is there, no doubt about it, it just needs to be controlled better and maybe only experience and time will bring that. Patience is key. Him moving to Italy and the Alpha Tauri factory was a good first step.

17. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

Antonio beat his teammate which, in qualifying at least, has become a pretty regular occurrence this season but unfortunately for the Italian he fell back in the race from his thirteenth place starting position to come home fifteenth. It was probably a frustrating evening as he wasn’t quite able to close the gap to the battle between Ocon, Russell and Tsunoda in front towards the end.

18. Mick Schumacher (-+)

Mick was able to get out of Q1 for the first time in his career but unfortunately for him it was because he crashed and caused a red flag, which ended the session and put Lance Stroll out. His pace was not really there on Sunday and he was beaten handily by his teammate. This would make a difference if Mick hadn’t beaten his teammate at every race this year. You can forgive Mick for having an off weekend after dominating his teammate so far.

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

Latifi’s result wouldn’t have looked out of the ordinary in France if not for his teammate’s outstanding result. While Russell seems to get the best out of the car every week, Latifi just looks like a classic pay driver that won’t last as far as his money. I feel harsh saying it every week, but Nicolas Latifi just is not relevant at the moment.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Mazipin beat his teammate for the second time in three races which is a start. He also seems to have got his elbows out and as a result we are seeing some fighting spirit from him. This isn’t enough to get off the bottom spot on this list as he also feels like a pay driver which is more of a practical solution to keep the team alive rather than being there on merit. He wasn’t even that good in F2.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Baku Edition

Welcome to the sixth edition of my F1 driver POWER rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition after the Monaco Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here.

Watching the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is always an entertaining affair and this year’s edition, after a year away, did not disappoint. There were crashes all weekend, multiple red flags and some great action throughout. We were also treated to the first ever Formula 1 sprint race, caused by the red flag brought out by Max Verstappen’s crash with six laps to go, which gave us a glimpse into what we can expect from this format when it becomes part of the F1 weekend later in the year. Pirelli’s tyres were once again topping the headlines with two high profile crashes caused by tyre failure on the main straight which cost Verstappen a certain victory and Red Bull their first 1-2 since 2013. Their fortunes changed from opening up a nice gap in both championships to their rivals, to losing ground, back to gaining ground, all in three laps of racing. This just shows the closeness of the championship this year. There was also some great action as usual behind the main battle with another driver of the day performance from Sebastian Vettel.

After Azerbaijan Grand Prix (6 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

There wasn’t anything Max could have done about that tyre failure with six laps to go that put an end to his race. He had driven well in the race to overcut the Mercedes of Hamilton in the pits to take the lead once they had both dispatched polesitter Leclerc early on. The Red Bull did look the quickest car around the streets of Baku all weekend so this will feel like a big missed opportunity that was taken away through no fault of their own. He was also denied the opportunity of pole due to more Q3 crashes bringing out the red flag but it is good to see that other cars can get up there and disrupt the Red Bull-Mercedes fight to cause these exciting fights. While he will be frustrated at losing out on the win, Max can’t dwell as his main championship rival didn’t score either so the fight is rolled over to France.

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

It would have been an all-time Hamilton turnaround, from being nowhere in practice to sticking it on the front row and then being in a prime position to win the race (however momentarily) with two laps to go. Seeing how tricky his teammate found it all weekend shows that Hamilton’s talent for driving F1 cars was the distinguishing factor in hauling the Mercedes up front in Baku. He got a better start than Perez at the Lap 49 standing restart and had the inside line to take the lead but inadvertently knocked the ‘magic’ brake bias switch as he swerved to avoid the Red Bull, which caused his front brakes to lock and him to go straight on at the first corner, dropping right to the back of the field. I agree with Toto Wolff in his assessment that it was not a mistake, just a freak accident as Hamilton hasn’t realised he had nudged the switch before braking. This does not take away from the fact, however, that this was also a chance missed to re-gain the championship lead and build confidence over Red Bull once again. It did feel like the F1 gods were levelling the playing field after Max had his points taken so cruelly. All is fair in love and war.

3. Sergio Perez (+4)

I may be being overly generous here but this could prove to be such an important win for Sergio Perez. He had been under pressure to join the title fight recently with his pace not quite living up to Max’s standards. However, Perez predicted it himself when he said it would take five races to get up to speed and then he goes and wins the sixth. This is exactly why Red Bull hired him – to pick up the pieces if something were to go wrong with Max’s car and to take points off Mercedes. Perez showed his intentions early on Sunday with a great start and some decisive overtaking to get himself up to third from sixth on the grid by Lap 7. Such was his race pace, he could have overcut both his teammate and Lewis Hamilton in the pitstops if it wasn’t for a slow stop, but he slotted in behind Verstappen for a Red Bull 1-2. Once Max retired, Perez brought it home to take his second career victory and becomes the first driver to win with two constructors in the turbo hybrid era. He now needs to do this type of performance every week, which is what it takes to hold on to one of these top drives.

4. Charles Leclerc (-+)

Another crash effected qualifying that Charles Leclerc ends up on top of. It wasn’t his crash this time, however, and despite the fact that his time would have probably been beaten by at least one Red Bull in Baku, Charles keeps sticking his Ferrari where it isn’t welcome. The pace was not in the car to really fight for the win and he did slowly fall back throughout the race with some assistance from the safety car to help the ‘over cutters’ e.g. Vettel, to leapfrog him. He just missed out on a podium after a great battle with Pierre Gasly at the second restart due to some nice defending from the Frenchman. Charles is gaining ground on Lando Norris’ fourth place in the championship.

5. Pierre Gasly (+1)

It feels no coincidence that when a Grand Prix descends into chaos recently, Pierre Gasly has been there to pick up the spoils. The third podium of his career was a great way to complete the hattrick. The impressiveness of this one was that he was sniffing around the podium positions all weekend. He started fourth on the grid to continue a phenomenal run of Q3 appearances in this Alpha Tauri and ran in the hunt for best of the rest behind the two Red Bulls and Hamilton until two of the main protagonists fell by the wayside. This elevated him into a podium position which he fought and held on to with all his powers. His long braking into the corners meant Leclerc could not attempt to force his way around the outside in the right angular first sector. A really well-deserved podium for Gasly, who keeps showing Red Bull what their future could be if they would just take it.

6. Lando Norris (-3)

Norris was caught out by the red flag at the end of Q3 so wasn’t able to set his fastest time but the McLaren did feel a step off this weekend in Baku despite the monstrous back straight seemingly suiting this car. He benefitted from the retirements ahead and finally got past Tsunoda to get onto the back of the podium fight during the two lap sprint race at the end. He wasn’t able to get amongst it but he once again moved forward in the race to collect valuable points for McLaren while his teammate is not delivering them consistently. Seems harsh to put him down three spots but the guys who jumped ahead had standout weekends.

7. Carlos Sainz (-2)

It was looking promising for Sainz, lining up fifth on the grid but he lost places at the start and a costly mistake put him down the field. He went straight on at the castle section after locking up on cold hard compound tyres, a mistake that cost him over twenty seconds. He was far behind the points until the safety cars gave him a second chance. He was able to get back up to eighth and four championship points to take home so it wasn’t all a lost cause.

8. Sebastian Vettel (+3)

Seb continues his meteoric rise up this list with his first of the season and Aston Martin’s first ever podium. It looks like Vettel is getting on top of this car and two great performances at tricky street circuits will give him such confidence. The happy, jokey, smiley Sebastian Vettel is back, and for a person who used to actively root against him, it is actually really good to see. He performed a very effective overcut which got him up to sixth at the restart after his teammate crashed on Lap 31 which turned into fifth when he stuck it down the inside of Leclerc into Turn 1. Fifth became fourth before they crossed the line again as his newer harder tyres gave him the grip advantage. Finally, fourth became second with two laps to go and Seb saw the job home to complete a throwback drive for this F1 great.

9. Esteban Ocon (-+)

I am going to leave Esteban here for this week despite a non-finish in the race and being beaten by his teammate in qualifying. A brake issue put pay to his Sunday early in Baku which ended his fine run of results. However, Alpine have been so impressed that they have signed him to a three year contract extension until the end of 2024. This is Ocon’s longest contract of his career and a sign from Alpine that they feel Ocon is their future. Next up for the French driver and team – the French Grand Prix so it should be all smiles and rainbows this weekend.

10. Lance Stroll (-2)

An unfortunate weekend for Stroll. He binned it in Q1 to line up nineteenth on the grid but was making good progress on his alternate strategy of long first stint on the hard tyres. However, a tyre blow out on Lap 31 ended his race and changed the state of play for everyone else. This was no fault of his own so its hard to drop him further than this. His teammate picked up the pieces, but Lance has been strong enough this season that this should not affect him too much. A podium for his teammate may even motivate him even more.

11. Fernando Alonso (+3)

This move in ranking reflects Alonso’s best weekend since his return to F1. He consistently outperformed Ocon all weekend and found himself eighth on the grid. He kept out of trouble in the race to come home sixth, just behind the fight for the podium spots. He hasn’t been the most consistent version of himself this year, hence why he has jumped up and down this list but I think this smooth weekend should give him confidence to get back to his old ways.

12. Daniel Ricciardo (-2)

Another weekend when Daniel missed out on Q3 which he has missed more often than not this season. While he did salvage some points on Sunday, finished ninth, he still is not up to speed with the pack as he was last of the midfield runners in Baku. This is slightly following the trend of his Renault days where he did eventually get it together and look really strong, so fingers crossed its another case of this and there isn’t something fundamentally wrong with this package.

13. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

A weekend where Alfa Romeo quietly got on with their business, stayed out of trouble and picked up a point from their experienced Finn. His teammate did finish just behind but it was Kimi who took the point. He capitalised on incidents and retirements in front to move up the field but that is what Alfa need to do to keep their championship tally ticking over.

14. George Russell (-2)

George was able to do his Saturday magic and get into Q2 once again but that would be the height of his weekend as the Williams looked off the pace and he retired with a lap to go. He keeps beating his teammate and with Bottas struggling, George needs to keep the pressure up to get that Mercedes seat.

15. Yuki Tsunoda (+3)

This may be a slight exaggeration or just a reflection of how low Tsunoda was on this list that he gets a 3-place lift after his Baku weekend. This was Tsunoda’s best weekend overall by far, despite crashing in Q3, but the fact that he was in Q3 probably outweighs that. He moved to Italy before the Baku race to be closer to the factory and engineers after a poor start to the season and it looks to have paid off. He looked much more consistently quick in Baku and this was rewarded with a seventh-place finish and his best result in F1 so far. He now needs to kick on and do this regularly to match his more experienced teammate.

16. Valtteri Bottas (-1)

Valtteri can’t afford to have too many weekends like Baku. Neither Mercedes looked quick before qualifying, but his teammate was able to pull a setup out the bag and stick it on the front row, while Bottas could only manage tenth. He complained of tyre warm up issues all weekend, but the great drivers find a way to fix it, like his teammate. It went from bad to worse on Sunday as Bottas barely threatened the top positions and only beat the two Haas’s and his teammate after his late race error. Sometimes Bottas makes this Mercedes look average or is his teammate just that good?

17. Antonio Giovinazzi (-1)

It was a good recovery weekend for Antonio after he crashed out in Q1 in Azerbaijan. He lined up last but was able to rise to eleventh by the flag on Sunday. He was up to fifteenth by the end of Lap 1 but had to pit early because of a tyre issue. He had good pace to get ahead of his teammate by the time Stroll brought out the red flag on Lap 31. He lost out once more during the tyre changes and would follow his teammate home and just miss out on points. He was punished for a small mistake on qualifying but the race pace is seemingly much improved for the young Italian.

18. Mick Schumacher (-1)

Mick helped Haas move ahead of Williams in the Constructor’s Championship on Sunday with a thirteenth-place finish, their highest finish of the season. He was comfortably ahead of his teammate during the race until the various safety car and red flag periods closed the gap and even got Mazipin ahead with two laps to go. Schumacher was able to jump him on the very last lap but Mazipin’s late move to defend caused a rather angry radio message from Mick. It sounds like there could be tension building between these two as they are their closest rivals on track.

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

Latifi was able to closely follow his teammate in Baku and took the finishing honours as Russell retired towards the end. Won by default but he will take it. Not much else to say, he is pretty irrelevant at the moment and his lack of screen time during the weekend shows it. It can be tough at the back of the F1 grid.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Mazipin is still yet to beat his teammate in a fair fight this season and was once again over forty seconds back when the first safety car came out on Lap 31, that is poor. He then nearly caused an almighty shunt on the final lap as he jinked to the right as Mick was passing him, which screamed immaturity as there was no way he could have kept the German behind with the speed differential. That would have been further bad press for the Russian, which he does not need.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Monaco Edition

Welcome to the fifth edition of my F1 driver POWER rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition after the Spanish Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here.

This years running of the Monaco Grand Prix helped prove my point in my Why is Monaco So Special? post. 95% of the excitement happened before the five lights went out on Sunday. It was looking like a fairytale was on the cards with Charles Leclerc, rather fortuitously, sticking it on pole after crashing during the final runs of qualifying while on provisional pole. This stopped Verstappen and Bottas from completing very fast laps which the Ferrari’s would have done well to beat. This Ferrari pace was surprise of the weekend and it added extra spice to the competition, with Hamilton losing out because of it. It was the first time in a long time that three teams were genuinely in the fight for pole. Leclerc was unable to take the start due to a left driveshaft failure on his reconnaissance lap which left Verstappen to lead the field into Turn 1 once he had fended off Bottas. He would go quite unopposed to the chequered flag in quite a dull affair with no real on track action post Lap 1. Doesn’t mean that weren’t opportunities to shine with an old champion showing his speed once again. Lets get into it.

After Monaco Grand Prix (5 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (+1)

The first change in ranking for the ‘Big Two’ this season sees Max jump Hamilton but I can’t deny the significance of the weekend in the early running of this championship. Hamilton was looking like getting away in the drivers championship coming into the weekend with a 3-1 lead in the win stakes. We exit the weekend, however, with Max taking the lead in the championship for the first time in his career and Red Bull leading the Constructors. He was on a super quick lap in Q3 before it was halted early by Leclerc’s crash and I think he would have taken pole. With Leclerc cleared out of the way before the start a Max win felt inevitable, especially once Bottas retired. This was his first victory around the streets of Monte Carlo and this coupled with a tricky weekend for Hamilton puts Verstappen in a great position going to Baku.

2. Lewis Hamilton (-1)

Hamilton was never on the leading pace all weekend, seemingly about 0.2/0.3 seconds back consistently. It came down to not being able to warm the tyres enough, which is vital to give the driver confidence around the ultimate confidence track. We don’t know where he could have got without Leclerc’s crash but he qualified a disappointing seventh on a track where it is almost impossible to overtake. He was staring at the back of Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri for pretty much 79 Laps and lost out to Perez and Vettel who both performed very effective overcuts. Lewis sounded very frustrated on the radio but he has learnt to control his emotions and move on from weekend’s like this so I am expecting the fight to commence in Baku which has been a happy hunting ground for Mercedes in recent years.

3. Lando Norris (+1)

A return to the podium in Monaco means a return to the podium of this list for Norris. He got himself at the sharp end on Saturday, qualifying fifth, and was rewarded for his efforts when Leclerc and Bottas retired ahead of him to take McLaren’s first podium at Monaco since they last had Mercedes engines. He had a quiet race but his confidence and pace on Saturday got him this result. A good way to make sure everyone forgets all about Spain.

4. Charles Leclerc (-1)

Charles drops because you have to complete the weekend. He was driving beautifully at his home Grand Prix, the first Monegasque driver to take pole at his home race since 1931, even though it was slightly fortuitous and by his own doing when he crashed in Q3 to secure it. I don’t accept the ‘Monaco curse’ excuse for Leclerc this time, it was his mistake that cost him victory on Sunday. A broken left driveshaft meant that he couldn’t take the start as Ferrari only identified the issue on the way to the grid which didn’t give enough time to fix it. Lots of potential but no end result this time around at home for Charles.

5. Carlos Sainz (+4)

Carlos was the more impressive Ferrari driver around Monaco and I think he would have beaten Leclerc in qualifying had it not been for his teammate’s crash. He was disappointed with fourth on the grid when pole was a genuine possibility and he kept pace with Bottas easily during the race, backing up his claim. Sainz, like Norris, benefitted from retirements ahead to take his first Monaco and Ferrari podium with second. A fantastic weekend for the Spaniard and what a way to endear yourself to the Tifosi. A massive weekend for Sainz and the biggest move yet on this list.

6. Pierre Gasly (+2)

Another result which means you have to stand up and take notice of Pierre Gasly. He qualified and finished ahead of a works Mercedes in Monaco as he started and finished in sixth. On a track which rewards driver ability and confidence, Gasly shone brightly. He did well in the race to guard against the Hamilton undercut and then used his car width to keep him behind. He did lose two places through strategy but he can’t be blamed for that. Surely another chance at a big team must be in his future.

7. Sergio Perez (-+)

Sergio’s race pace once again saved his blushes at Monaco but he still hasn’t been able to put a complete weekend together. He can be excused for being slower than Max in qualifying around Monaco if he isn’t fully in tune with the car and Perez was hampered by Leclerc’s crash to start ninth. His pace in clear air once people in front had pitted was equal to Verstappen out front and this meant he jumped up to fourth after the pit stops. A wonderfully performed over cut. Perez said that it would take him five races to get up to speed in this Red Bull and those five have now passed. It is time he joined the big two in the fight.

8. Lance Stroll (-3)

This was the first weekend all season where Stroll was beaten by his teammate in both Quali and the race. He missed out on Q3 to line up thirteenth but progressed further than anyone in the race to finish eighth. Unfortunately for Lance, others around him on this list had superb weekends. Some good points and good strategy are the positives from Monaco for the Canadian.

9. Esteban Ocon (+1)

Ocon is becoming the main guy at Alpine. He capitalised on an out-of-sorts Alonso to make himself look good around the streets of Monte Carlo. While he missed out on Q3 by six one hundredths of a second to line up eleventh, he moved up to ninth at the flag after a great start and some good strategic calls from the pit lane. It has been reported that Alpine have been so impressed they are already negotiating a contract extension for the Frenchman, deciding against trying to sign another young French driver.

10. Daniel Ricciardo (-4)

Spain feels a long time ago all of a sudden for Daniel Ricciardo. He was slow all weekend around Monaco and he wasn’t really sure why, which isn’t encouraging. His qualifying position of twelfth was his highest finish of any session during the weekend, equaled by his finishing position on Sunday. Once locked into grid spot, he was stuck in the midfield and his destiny sealed. I think his lack of pace around Monaco really highlights the lack of chemistry between car and driver in this package at the moment. Next stop is another tricky street circuit that he has previously won but one that should be able to hide his blushes better because of that big ol’ straight.

11. Sebastian Vettel (+3)

He’s back baby, well at least for this weekend he was. Sebastian showed some of that Vettel fighting spirit when it counted on Sunday to jump Gasly and Hamilton in the pit stops using the overcut. He made up four seconds in two laps to make it possible and then held off Gasly up the hill to Casino Square to show a side that’s been missing the last 12 months. Vettel was the leading Aston Martin in every session and made it into Q3 for the first time in 10 months with eighth on the grid. That aforementioned fighting spirit rewarded him with a fifth place finish and it was nice to hear the joy in his post race radio celebration once again.

12. George Russell (-+)

A quiet weekend for George Russell in Monaco but another one where he leads his team to Q2 at the expense of a big name. He would be annoyed not to move forward more in the race with some retirements but the Williams is still a step away in direct combat with other cars not with Haas branding.

13. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

Kimi was beaten fair and square by Giovinazzi in Monaco. Not much to say for Kimi this weekend as I feel the result was comfortably within Alfa Romeo’s window. He qualified fourteenth, used the stronger overcut to get up to eleventh but was a long way off his teammate and only caught him because of a slow Ocon in front.

14. Fernando Alonso (-3)

Fernando was another previous Monaco winner to be mysteriously slow. He was knocked out in Q1 to start seventeenth and was nowhere near the points on Sunday. He complained of not being able to get the tyres into the right temperature window which would explain it but is it another example of the two year hiatus holding him back at the start to this season?

15. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

Is Bottas this generation’s Rubens Barrichello? It feels like he has inherited his bad luck. Valtteri looked the quicker of the two Mercedes drivers during qualifying and the race in Monaco and was on course to take some good points out of his teammate. He was in the fight for pole but also had to halt a much faster lap in Q3 due to Leclerc’s incident and had to settle for third. This turned into second with Leclerc’s DNS. He had one chance at the start to get into the lead but Max shut that door quickly. A podium was in the bag, however, a faulty wheel nut getting stuck in place at his pit stop meant it was impossible to change tyres and forced him to retire from second. It feels like the universe doesn’t want Bottas to interfere in the title fight, just like it did for Barrichello all those years ago.

16. Antonio Giovinazzi (+2)

Giovinazzi is starting to change my mind about him, he is stringing some nice weekends together in this Alfa Romeo and now looks like the leading driver in that team. He got himself into Q3 as one of seven different teams represented in the final part of qualifying and started the race tenth. He showed off his race craft on the first lap with an opportunistic move around the outside at Mirabeau on Ocon. He was rewarded with a championship point for his efforts.

17. Mick Schumacher (-1)

Mick found out how dangerous the Monaco barriers can be in FP3 on Saturday morning with a heavy crash at Casino Square, losing the back end and destroying much of the left hand side of the car. He would miss qualifying and line up last for the race. He got past his teammate at the Lowes hairpin on Lap 1 but lost the place later on to be beaten to the flag by Mazipin for the first time in 2021.

18. Yuki Tsunoda (-1)

Tsunoda had never driven around Monaco before this weekend as COVID interrupted his only season in F2 with the race being cancelled. This really puts into context how raw of a talent Yuki is. It showed as it took him a while to warm up and he was never relevant on track during the weekend. This is just another notch in his F1 education with more data logged.

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

Don’t know what else to say for Latifi apart from he started eighteenth and finished fifteenth. He was able to match his teammate’s race pace which is nice for him.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Signs of life from Mazipin as he looked as quick as his teammate all weekend and finished ahead of him on merit on Sunday to take his first teammate clean sweep of the season. You would have got good odds for Mazipin not to be the Haas driver in the barriers this weekend. Onwards and upwards.

Why Is Monaco So Special?

Don’t be fooled, the title isn’t an early indication of a glorifying 1000 words about the greatness of the Monaco Grand Prix around the streets of Monte Carlo. It is a genuine question. I just don’t know how I feel about it and that is the purpose of this post – to try to figure it out – and also to give myself a bit of a time based test of my own. This is probably going to end up being an argument with myself but lets see how it goes.

Monaco in its current configuration

If I’m being perfectly honest I have never cared for the Monaco Grand Prix. The phrase brings up feelings of boredom and frustration from deep within as the race would never live up to expectations as the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ of the F1 calendar and one third of the famous Triple Crown. It would be built up to a crescendo on Sunday with a packed grid full of celebrities and glamorous people bringing the worlds attention to the principality. However, the crescendo would fizzle out as no-one would be able to overtake around the tight and twisty streets. It would also be the race which, if any, people around me would attempt to watch. This would lead to the inevitable remarks that it’s just “cars driving around in circles” and “nothing happens” which is maybe where all my annoyance with this event comes from. I think that is where I am going with this though, I don’t think it is a good ambassador for the sport to the wider world, which I imagine is only looking for an almighty shunt at the start before quickly switching over. I wish tracks like Spa, Suzuka, Montreal or Hockenheim had the global reach or appeal of Monaco. Then they would see the real Formula 1.

Monaco configuration 1929-1972

Before writing this I also thought Ferrari dominance would factor into my dislike of Monaco but in my viewing years they have only won three times, two of those with Schumacher at the turn of the 21st century. Peculiarly, McLaren have been quite successful at Monaco in my F1 life, winning five times since 2000, which is joint best with Mercedes (and Red Bull now after Max’s win). So you would assume I would feel more warmly towards it. The problem I have is that the result feels predictable once the grid has been set on Saturday. Since 2000, 12 of the 19 races have been won from pole and no one has won it from outside the top 3. Unfortunately for me in these arguments with my friends, this does back up their view that it’s “just cars driving around in circles”. Monaco ranks last in average overtakes for tracks that have hosted at least 10 races over the last 20 years – with 12 (I took a look at the data). To put it into context, Shanghai is the leader with a massive 52 and the next track on the list above Monaco, which is still on the calendar, is Barcelona at 20. While I do love a strategic battle of the minds, overtaking and close racing is what I want to watch and Monaco just does not provide that, especially now the cars are wider than ever and the streets of Monaco are as narrow as they were in the 1920s.

In short, I don’t like that it is the most hyped race weekend on the calendar but rarely lives up to its billing. A bit like Champions League finals between Italian teams at Old Trafford – a lot of old nothing.

Monaco configuration 1973 – 1975

Now to the other side of the argument; the reasons I am so torn in my feelings. What it has on its side is a combination of history and prestige. It is the original street circuit and one that all the drivers want to win above all else. This is because, without doubt, Monaco is the ultimate test, both of driver and machine. The claustrophobic barriers lining the track mean a mistake will most likely end your race, and at the very least derail it massively without much chance to recover due to the difficulty to overtake. For the drivers it is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one, their brains having to process so much information for 90 minutes just to finish the race. There is no room for a slip in concentration, even the straights at Monaco aren’t straight. The corners relentlessly keep coming.

Monaco configuration 1976 – 1985

The legacy of the Monaco Grand Prix is it’s biggest attraction. The race pre-dates Formula 1 itself, with its first iteration being in 1929 and was organised by driver Anthony Noghes, who the last corner is named after, under the guidance of Prince Louis II. It has been a permanent fixture in motorsport and the F1 calendar ever since, with only World War II & COVID-19 halting festivities. As you will see by the pictures of the track dispersed throughout this article, the layout has hardly changed in its history, with only a few chicanes put in, like at the Swimming Pool, and some corners have been extended, like at Rascasse. This means that while the cars have changed, the challenge hasn’t. It links the eras of Formula 1 unlike any other track. The experiences of F1 and Monaco greats like Graham Hill and Ayrton Senna can be replicated by today’s drivers. That is where the prestige of Monaco comes from, once a driver wins the race they go into a very small fraternity of greats who have conquered this unique challenge. It seems like it is a right of passage for any future World Champion to win at Monaco as every multiple World Champion in history has done it at least once. This is why I would never want it to leave the F1 calendar, despite my objections. It separates legends from pretenders.

The events of Qualifying for the 2021 Grand Prix have, amusingly, challenged my feelings about one of my own arguments above. It started off as a negative thought – “the most important day at Monaco is Saturday” meaning that because overtaking is almost impossible, the place you start is going to be the place you finish. (See paragraph 3) However, this thought evolved to a positive “it creates a different dynamic to the weekend and gives more importance to a session that rarely disappoints – Qualifying”. As like 16 years ago, a Ferrari crashed on the final run in qualifying while on provisional pole to thwart cars on better laps behind. When Michael Schumacher did it, it was obviously deliberate and he was punished accordingly. This Leclerc crash seemed different, but the rumour mill starts milling anyway. A paddock abuzz with excitement like the melodrama that Formula 1 is and it happening at Monaco is a big reason why some people think he did it deliberately. It’s what Monaco does to drivers. The pursuit of the ultimate prize. However, in typical Monaco style, the race was a procession and I had forgotten about the excitement of Saturday by Lap 2.

I could keep going on and on about the pros and cons of Monaco, trapping myself in a large web of emotions but I think it best to end my indecisive ramblings here. I haven’t succeeded. I laid both sides out there but I am no closer to deciding how I Trulli feel about the Monaco Grand Prix (see what I did there!?). It has me loving it one day, loathing it the next. Maybe that is it’s charm – damn I’m confused. Anyway, it doesn’t matter, this exercise was just something ‘to do’. Also, for those of you who were wondering, I did not stick to my time limit.

JL

P.S. I can’t end this article without giving the racing around Monaco some love, because there have been some great moments and races. Here are a few of my favourites:

Senna vs Mansell 1992

An example of exciting racing where no overtakes were made. Nigel Mansell had been dominating the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix in the revolutionary active suspension Williams but was forced to make a late stop but came out behind Ayrton Senna on much older tyres. Mansell would close very quickly and swarm around the McLaren but was unable to pass. They finished 0.2 seconds apart and the body language of the cars represented their drivers characters; Mansell’s Williams like a British Bulldog badgering and hounding Senna’s cool, calm and collected style. It seemed like Senna never looked back to see where the Englishman was but placed his car perfectly to win the race.

1996 Chaos

A race which started in the wet and ended in the dry was one that no one seemed destined to win. Damon Hill was running away with it after Schumacher crashed on Lap 1 but an engine failure through the tunnel ended his run to victory. Jean Alesi retired from the lead when his Bennetton broke down as well leaving Frenchman Olivier Panis in the Ligier to come home victorious. It wasn’t plain sailing behind either as only 4 drivers were classified at the end. This is a prime example of the unpredictably that Monaco can cause, especially in tricky conditions. Classic case of to finish first, first you have to finish.

Hamilton emulates Senna – 2008

This race has a special place in my heart as it was the first of two fantastic wet weather drives that lead Hamilton to his first world title in 2008. He started third but beat Raikkonen off the line to follow leader Felipe Massa into Sainte Devote. He would make an error on Lap 7 and touch the barriers, causing a puncture. McLaren made a brilliant tactical decision to fill his car with fuel and hope to get to the dry conditions without pitting again. Hamilton would hold up his side of the bargain with a faultlessly fast and consistent drive from there on in to take victory while more chaos ensued behind.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Spain Edition

Welcome to the fourth edition of my F1 driver POWER rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition after the Portuguese Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here.

The second part of the Iberian doubleheader at the Spanish Grand Prix was a mirror image of its predecessor, as all the excitement – apart from some nice first lap overtakes – happened in the second half of the race compared to the opposite in Portugal. Logically. A race once again dominated by Hamilton-Verstappen story lines did not pack action around the processional Catalunya circuit but there were some fights and some outstanding performances. Surprisingly, there was a genuine tyre strategy conundrum to be solved with the two stop seemingly the way to go on the day, but for some they figured it out one lap too late.

After Spanish Grand Prix (4 of 23)

1. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

Another race where the results do not tell the whole story for Hamilton. This win came through a combination of his speed and a clever strategy decision from the Mercedes pit wall. In a very similar occurrence to Hungary 2019, Mercedes pulled Hamilton in for a second pit stop after it looked like he would be stuck behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. Like 2019, he went on to catch back up and pass the stranded Dutchman with 5 laps to go. Mercedes used the gap behind, that Red Bull hope will be filled by Sergio Perez ASAP, to find an advantage to give Hamilton the opportunity to pass, which he took. A fantastic team win for Hamilton & Mercedes on a day where they had the fastest car but had to get aggressive to make it work. This was Hamilton’s fifth win in a row in Spain, equaling his hero Ayrton Senna’s record for most consecutive wins around a specific track; his being around the streets of Monaco. Another record for Hamilton to add to the collection.

2. Max Verstappen (-+)

A very aggressive overtake into the first corner gave him the lead he missed out on in qualifying by six one hundredths of a second, to set up an interesting battle at the front in Spain. His overtake did require a compliant Hamilton, who could have turned in and caused a collision but the gap was there to attack. It was borderline-hard, clean racing which is what you expect from the Dutchman. Verstappen was able to keep Hamilton behind during the first round of pit-stops, after an uncharacteristically slow one from the Red Bull boys, as Mercedes decided to stretch out the first stint. However, once Mercedes made the late decision to pit Hamilton for the second time on Lap 42, Max was in no man’s land as the powerful undercut (when the car behind pits earlier, puts fresh tyres on so goes faster than the car in front on worn tyres, who then pits but comes out behind due to this time differential) meant pitting would have forfeited track position. As a result, he had to eek out as much performance as possible from his older tyres without losing too much time and then trying to keep Hamilton behind when he inevitably caught up. This felt like Formula 1’s very own Catch 22, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Max can be happy with P2 though as he pushed Hamilton all the way on a track he and Mercedes have dominated at in the Hybrid Era. It keeps him in the title fight and I am sure he is relishing the challenge of Monaco next, a track he is yet to conquer.

3. Charles Leclerc (+)

It is only fair that the Monegasque driver jumps ahead of Norris this week such is the standard required at the top and I think Charles pretty much aced his weekend. He qualified a mighty P4 on the grid and then pulled off the overtake of the day around the outside of Bottas at Turn 3 on Lap 1, which screamed Alonso 2013 in a similar red Prancing Horse. His race pace was then so strong throughout he kept his starting spot of 4th and finished 18 seconds ahead of his main championship rivals. He is looking like the complete driver who is at one with his machinery at the start of this 2021 season. What a difference 6 months make for the Scuderia. If Leclerc can get on the podium at his home Monaco race, I think it would genuinely be a universally celebrated event.

4. Lando Norris (-1)

For the first time this season, Norris had a so-so weekend. It sounds like McLaren knew they would struggle more around the Circuit de Catalunya than the previous tracks and Lando did not have the cleanest weekend to compound issues. He was blocked off in Q1 by Mazipin so used up his extra pair of soft tyres. This would hamper him in Q3 as he could only complete one lap with fresh tyres, compared to two for his competitors and the best conditions had already past when he completed that lap. He lined up 9th and with some nice strategy decisions from McLaren he was able to pass Ocon in the final stages to grab 8th. However he never looked on the leading midfield pace on Sunday and lost third in the championship to Bottas.

5. Lance Stroll (+1)

Stroll had to battle hard to go home with nothing from Barcelona. He missed out on Q3 by eight one hundredths of a second and was smelling a point until it was cruelly taken away by Pierre Gasly with 3 laps to go. Lance is still the Aston Martin driver getting the most out of this car and showed off his overtaking prowess with a couple of moves on Alonso. The first was a lovely case of car positioning and forward planning as Stroll switched from attacking the inside to the outside in the Turn 4 braking zone, which then switched into the inside and dominant line running down the hill into Turn 5.

6. Daniel Ricciardo (+3)

A very important weekend for the confidence of Daniel Ricciardo and one for him to say ‘Remember me?’ to the F1 world. He has been thoroughly out driven by Norris in the first three events but a return to familiar surroundings for the smiley Aussie bucked that trend. He got faster in every qualifying session to secure 7th on the grid and really helped his race by moving forward at the start by smartly going around the outside as the pack pinched into Turn 1. He eventually lost a position to Perez but held off Sainz on faster tyres to come home in 6th. It wasn’t a flashy performance but Daniel efficiently got the job done to help McLaren have their best points total to start a season since 2012.

7. Sergio Perez (-2)

Perez drops on this list on a weekend where he was most conspicuous in his absence for the fight that arguably cost his team a win in Spain. In Q3 on Saturday, he ran wide at the entry into the last chicane, touched the gravel trap and spun. This cost him a timed lap when conditions were at their best and he ran out of tyres on his final attempt to line up 8th. He started well to jump up to 6th but it took him too long to get past Ricciardo and wasn’t around to help his teammate in the fight for the win. Red Bull need Perez to be in the pit stop window of the Mercedes – at the very least – so they aren’t able to use the tactic seen on Sunday to race-winning effect. The worrying thing about the mistake in Qualifying is that you can’t blame it on the transition to a new team and car, it was a bit of a clumsy unforced error. This is the sign of a driver starting to over-drive, which became his predecessors’ issue as well.

8. Pierre Gasly (-1)

Pierre moves down this list through no fault of his own. His car isn’t quite showing the speed that it promised in the pre-season and half of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend but Pierre is keeping it in the fight. He was out of the points pretty much all weekend until a storming last stint on the red soft tyres grabbed a point off of Lance Stroll. Gasly used a slow Alonso to gain on the pack but some opportunistic overtakes helped him gain positions quickly from 15th. He was also the only driver to overtake at Turn 10 (not counting Hamilton on Bottas) so an extra driver point for that. Its no coincidence that Gasly’s name shows up in the points most weeks in such a tight midfield battle.

9. Carlos Sainz (-1)

Carlos also moves down through no fault of his own, it was mainly just a great weekend for Ricciardo. He is showing good pace in this Ferrari and seems the driver in a new team who is generally most comfortable. He qualified a great 6th but couldn’t repeat the result on Sunday with a 7th place finish. He got pinched on the inside of Turn 1 so lost a few places but battled back well with some good strategy and as always with Carlos in the last few years – strong, consistent race pace.

10. Esteban Ocon (+1)

Ocon continues to rise and has now jumped his teammate on this list. He seems more on top of this car than Alonso and the updates they brought to the last two races seem to be working. A really strong result in qualifying for P5 on the grid shows the raw pace in the car around a track that shows chassis strength, but unfortunately for Ocon he was caught out on the slower one stop strategy and fell late in the race to come home 9th. While he is probably disappointed in ninth, this shows the ever changing nature of F1 expectations as he would have bitten your hand off for that result in the first two races of the season.

11. Fernando Alonso (-1)

Fernando was in amongst the action on Sunday but unfortunately for him the action was people overtaking him. A lockup into Turn 1 at the safety car restart invited pressure from Stroll which resulted in him losing a place, and he was the cork in the bottle for the late race midfield action. This is the second weekend that Ocon has been noticeably quicker but even 2-time World Champions take time to adjust to their new surroundings. Fernando crossed the line 17th trying to make the one stop work but maybe he just a bit slow realising that the tyres weren’t going to make it. He ran in 10th, where he started, for a long time but once he lost one position they fell like dominoes, and a late pitstop finished his day. This will be classed as an information gathering weekend in the archive of Fernando Alonso’s career.

12. George Russell (-+)

No Saturday magic this weekend for George but some nice sleight of hand to get through to Q2, beating an Alpha Tauri in the process. Williams were one of the few to take advantage of the safety car, pitting both cars on Lap 9 and putting them on essentially a one-stop strategy but out of sync with the rest of the field. Russell’s pace gave him track position when others made their second stop under race conditions and won himself the first crack at Alonso’s 10th place. On Lap 60 he was pressurising Alonso for the last point but a horror couple of laps saw him drop to 15th by Lap 62 as this draggy Williams is still a bit weak in a fight. He continues to keep Williams in and around the action.

13. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

No points for Raikkonen in Barcelona but a race where, once again, he has moved forward and, like Russell above, got himself in and around the action. Also like Russell, the car’s pace meant points were out of reach realistically for the Finn. He was knocked out of Q1 and outqualified by his teammate, but, as has been his forte recently he finished Sunday the leading Alfa Romeo. Not much else to say about the understated legend.

14. Sebastian Vettel (+2)

Sebastian rises two stops on this list because there are signs of improvement from this driver-car combination. While they are small steps – Vettel started and finished the race 13th – he looked more comfortable and showed some fight. Exhibit A would be some quick thinking to turn pressure from Gasly into overtaking Giovinazzi on Lap 30 into Turn 5. He is still a step behind his teammate but this was another step in the right direction after Portugal.

15. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

This is going to get old quickly me saying Valterri was just not quick enough on Sunday but it happened again in Spain. He has the speed to have a chance for pole but he gets left behind when it matters. I have seen people compare the Bottas and Perez situations but I disagree with the validity of that comparison. Bottas has had 4 years to prove he is quick enough, while Perez has had 4 races. Unfortunately for Bottas, he hasn’t proved it. His behaviour when asked to not hold up Hamilton in the race won’t help his relationship with his current employer – but did save face. It feels like everyone knows that he won’t be back at Mercedes next year so is this the start of Bottas truly driving for himself and his F1 future?

16. Mick Schumacher (+2)

Mick gets his recognition with a 2-place rise on this list after Spain. He is taking control of this Haas team in the public eye as his teammate is only getting bad press and Mick is seen as the early shining light of hope. He is looking professional and assured on the track which is backing up this image. The car isn’t letting them be relevant at the moment but Mick has been the most impressive rookie so far, so had to jump ahead of Tsunado.

17. Yuki Tsunoda (-3)

Not the weekend Yuki was looking for in Spain as he was knocked out in Q1 and then retired on Lap 8 after an engine shutdown. He can’t be blamed for the shutdown, unless he is keeping taking the key out a secret, but not much pace shown all weekend really. He is making more waves for his radio profanities than his on-track prowess at the moment, which is never good. Still lots of driving and learning to do for Yuki this year.

18. Antonio Giovinazzi (-1)

Giovinazzi drops again after a down weekend in Barcelona. He did outqualify Kimi but fell back in the race to finish 15th after getting caught at the back of some DRS trains. We didn’t see much of him on Sunday so moves down mainly through good work from others needing some recognition.

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

Latifi is starting to look alive in this Williams. He is still some way off Russell but he did shadow his team leader for quite a lot of Sunday’s race. However, the gap in pace meant Latifi was at the back of the Alonso train while George was at the front of it. He did finish in front of Alonso to come 16th so that’s got to feel good and give him confidence to join the fight.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Mazipin is getting hit from all angles at the moment. You can now add Toto Wolff to the list of ‘complainers’ after he took an age to move out of Hamilton’s way while being lapped. The spinning is definitely slowing but he is looking more of a hazard than an F1 driver at the moment. He may just not be ready for Formula 1 but has been promoted to help the Haas team survive with the money he brings in.