Category: F1 Driver POWER Rankings – 2021

Ranking the 2021 class of F1 drivers to see who holds all the power in the paddock.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings- Saudi Arabia Edition

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

We have what we deserve! The two title rivals going into the final race of the season level on points. This is the first time it has happened in F1 since 1974 when Fittipaldi and Regazzoni were vying for the crown. Like the pundits and drivers alike, I don’t really know where to start with the events of one of the craziest races we have witnessed, and not always for good reasons. Let me start with the host country. I wasn’t happy when it was announced that Saudi Arabia would host a Grand Prix, I think sport holds ethical values of sportsmanship, fairness, and meritocracy but what does it say about this sport’s values if they are happy to promote countries with less than suspect human rights records and inequalities present in exchange for a large cheque? I don’t think there is any country in the world that is innocent, in particular my home country of England, but the way Saudi Arabian and Qatari authorities use immigrant workers with essentially no rights or pay to build their sporting infrastructure with cost to human life and then promote themselves on the world stage in a certain way is something I wholly disagree with. Unfortunately, money talks in the world of the 21st century and sport can be used as a distraction to the real picture. Ok, I have said my bit, on to the racing.

This Jeddah track was advertised as the fastest street circuit ever and I think they got that right. While the track has 27 corners, most of them are high speed, if not full throttle. The first sector is the most technical with a couple chicanes and twisty bits but then it’s mainly long straights and a nice, banked corner. One thing that was noticeable immediately was that this track is narrow and the walls very close. This would be key to the weekend with virtual safety, safety cars, yellow flags and even red flags appearing. Over the weekend we had multiple heavy crashes, in particular one that ended the F2 race early and put two drivers in hospital. This chaos would translate into the F1 race with one safety car, two red flags and three virtual safety cars.

I think the only way to truly understand this crazy, chaotic race is putting the events in context so I will be highlighting the flash points and events that changed the face of it as it progressed and hopefully piece together a timeline to get us to the end. Hold on to your hats, this could get messy.

Lap 1 – The Mercedes duo get away cleanly to lead 1-2 from Verstappen. All cars make it through the first corners safe.

Lap 10 – Schumacher crashes heavily into the barriers at Turn 22, bringing out the Safety Car. Both Mercedes pit for hard tyres, Verstappen doesn’t pit and inherits the lead but is still required to pit. Seemingly advantage Mercedes. Most of the top 10 also pit for fresh tyres.

Lap 13 – The red flag comes out due to barrier damage. Everyone is now able to put on fresh tyres, Max gains those places gained during the Safety Car and takes the outright lead because of it. Mercedes, Perez, Norris and Alonso are the main losers.

Lap 15 – The race is restarted after the red flag with a standing start. Hamilton gets the better start from second to lead into the first corner, however, Max tries sticking it out around the outside but runs out of space and cuts the second corner to retake the lead. As a result, Ocon gets ahead of Hamilton as he has to avoid the Red Bull coming back on track. Perez is tagged and spun by Leclerc as three cars try to go into a space for two and retires. Mazipin hits Russell heavily from behind as everyone slows to avoid Perez. Both Mazipin and Russell retire on the spot. This brings out the second red flag immediately.

During the red flag break, Michel Masi (Race Director) and Red Bull negotiate that if Max doesn’t start behind Lewis at the restart, he will get a penalty, so they move behind the Mercedes. Ocon starts on pole as a result.

Lap 17 – Third standing start of the race. Ocon, Hamilton, Verstappen are the top three. Hamilton gets alongside Ocon off the line, but Max makes even better start and dives down the inside to pass them both into Turn 1. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, it was brave, executed well and most importantly he made the corner under control. Hamilton is sandwiched and makes contact with Ocon on the outside but sustains no damage. Max leads from Ocon, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Bottas. Shoutout to Tsunoda, who makes great move around the outside of Leclerc at banked Turn 13.

Lap 36/37 – The two title rivals disappear up the road with Hamilton close behind Verstappen. Hamilton gets within DRS range coming onto the pit straight and looks to overtake into Turn 1 and is marginally ahead going into the braking zone. Like Brazil, Max breaks very late, gets oversteer mid corner and has to take to the runoff to get through the complex. From the overhead shot, it is clear that Hamilton would have been able to properly make the corner if Max wasn’t on the inside, trying to keep control of his car. This is the difference between this incident and the overtake on Lap 17 which was legitimate from Max. Race Director Michael Masi orders Red Bull to give Hamilton the place which they subsequently relay to Max. He decides to let Hamilton through on the back straight just before the DRS line for the pit straight. Meanwhile, Masi goes to Ron Meadows, Mercedes Sporting Director, to inform him that Red Bull will let Hamilton by. However, there isn’t enough time for the message to get to Hamilton before and confusion ensues. Max keeps backing off, Hamilton slows behind, probably confused about what is going on or doesn’t want to give Max the DRS for the main straight/lining him up for the main straight. The radio messages from driver to team would indicate Hamilton was in the dark about Max letting him through. They get closer and closer until Max slows once more, Hamilton can’t react in time, and they run into each other. Hamilton’s right front wing connects with Max’s left rear tyre. What I don’t quite get is Max driving off quickly as soon as the contact happens. It had a ‘job done’ air to it. Max would be given a 10 second time penalty post-race as it was found his “erratic” braking made him “predominantly at fault” for the contact.

Lap 42 – Max has been told again to let Hamilton through after some heated exchanges between Masi and Meadows about the sequence of events. He does this once again on the back straight before the last corner. This time he keeps more to the right and Hamilton knows what is happening so passes without incident. However, as soon as he does this, Max dives back down the inside to retake the lead before the corner arrives. Something I have seen Hamilton do in the past and got penalised for (circa Spa 2008).

Lap 43 – As they cross the line for Lap 43, it is announced that Max gets a 5 second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage from the original Lap 37 (Turn 1) incident. Later on in the lap, Max gives up the position once again before the final corner, but this time Hamilton isn’t taking any chances and crowds out Verstappen’s attempt to retake the position around the outside. Max’s race engineer comes on radio to say they didn’t need to do that. This would indicate that Max felt he had to give up the position to avoid further penalty from the previous lap’s antics.

Lap 50 – Hamilton crosses the line to take victory and the fastest lap at the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Championship is tied. Max is unable to pit and go for fastest lap due to Ocon within his pitstop window.

What a crazy, chaotic, confusing race that was in Jeddah. The main talking point I can take away from this race is that there needs to be consistency in the stewards’ room so the drivers know what they can and can’t get away with when in wheel-to-wheel combat. I can see why Max would be annoyed as his defensive move in Brazil was arguably worse than his one in Jeddah, yet he was penalised for the latter and not the former. These decisions set precedents but then they immediately go against that precedent the next week. It is a big job, but consistency will only be secured if there is a team of 4 stewards that follow the circus around to every race. The rules are also quite vague and open to interpretation, which is a cause of this war of words between the two title fighting teams. More practical, specific rules with a consistent stewardship wouldn’t give teams the opportunity to challenge every single decision being made and hopefully sorting out the nonsense we saw in Jeddah, where it felt that Max was under investigation for 10 laps and the audience not having the state of play being played out on track but instead in a small room away from the cameras. Don’t get me wrong, we need rules to moderate the action and keep the drivers safe, but at the moment they are too vague and enforced too inconsistently for them to do the sport justice.

There is so much to talk about in the title battle that I am sorry that I won’t get around the rest of the teams until the driver rankings. Hopefully you can appreciate the importance of this title fight and I am not neglecting the rest of the grid, there just isn’t enough time in this section.

Quick update on the Constructors however – Ferrari have virtually secured third in the championship; McLaren need to outscore them by 38.5 points to take it back so basically a 1-2 in Abu Dhabi which I don’t see happening. Alpine have also secured fifth in the constructors over Alpha Tauri with a very strong last two events. They hold a 29-point advantage over the Faenza team.

After Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (21 of 22)

1. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

Hamilton secured his third win in a row, drew level with Verstappen on points and I think took the moral high ground in his wheel-to-wheel battles with the Dutchman as some of the Red Bull’s moves felt a little desperate. He took pole due to Max’s mistake at the last corner when he clipped the wall and damaged his tyre when over 0.25 seconds up. This was looking like a crucial error in the early stages as both Mercs were ahead of him but then the red flag came out and turned the race on its head. However, Lewis kept his cool through multiple setbacks and battles with the Red Bull that resulted in contact but even without the Race Director’s intervention, Red Bull conceded they would have struggled to stay ahead of Hamilton. He now goes to a track where he has won a highly tense championship before, so I am sure he is full of confidence to take his 8th World Title.

2. Max Verstappen (-+)

Max put his all into the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and overstepped the mark on one occasion, maybe two. He also showed his great speed, decisiveness, and car control (until he clipped the wall on his final Q3 lap, it was an all-time commitment lap). This is the two sides of Max Verstappen that remind me of Michael Schumacher and others of Ayrton Senna. This pushing of the rules to the limit and packaging it as hard racing. Martin Brundle once said of Senna that he would put his car in dangerous positions when overtaking so that the car in front had to get out of the way, or they would crash. This gave Senna a psychological advantage in direct combat. I see this in Verstappen, however, nowadays this sort of thing will get you penalties, while in Senna’s time it got you the position. He must have felt like he jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire with all the penalties and instructions to give positions back in Jeddah, but for better or worse, this is the state of play and drivers have to abide by the rules. I don’t think Verstappen would intentionally crash into anyone, but he will put his car in danger in pursuit of this title – high risk, high reward. He also knows that Lewis can’t afford not to finish the race, otherwise his fight will be over. We go into Abu Dhabi with a winner-takes-all situation, but I believe Max wants to win this fairly and outright, so I don’t see a repeat of Senna Prost in Japan 1990. Whoever wins it will completely deserve it. Bring it on.

3. Charles Leclerc (-+)

Charles split the Red Bulls in qualifying to start 4th and was running well until the second restart where he got slightly squeezed by Perez, who was in a car sandwich at Turn 3, clipped the Red Bull and had to flat spot his tyres avoiding it. Luckily, the red flag came out immediately and it didn’t ruin his race. After the third start, he dropped back a few spots until he was in a long battle with his teammate that he was lucky to stay ahead of and finished just ahead of Sainz for 7th. This did help Ferrari essentially secure 3rd in the Constructors.

4. Lando Norris (-+)

Lando did well to secure a Q3 birth and 7th on the grid. He moved up at the start and was running high in the points until the red flag came out on Lap 10 and he suffered from the rule that lets everyone change tyres during this period. Lando was one of the cars that pitted while the Safety Car was out pre-red flag so effectively dropped to 15th after that. He battled back throughout the race to get back into the points for 10th, but it was more bad luck for the Brit who desperately needs a clean race in Abu Dhabi to take some momentum into the winter. He will hope that McLaren’s focus on next year’s car will pay off handsomely.

5. Pierre Gasly (+1)

All the 6s for Gasly in Saudi Arabia as he qualified and finished 6th. This time around his qualifying pace translated into the race and he was able to stay out of trouble, as he usually does in chaotic races like this, to bring the car home and secure points for the team but it seems to come too late to overtake Alpine for 5th in the Championship.  

6. Carlos Sainz (-1)

Carlos could not get the car going in qualifying and made multiple mistakes to not get through Q2 and lined up 15th on Sunday. However, he got himself together and moved up during the race, keeping out of trouble and taking advantage of others falling by the waist side. He would have argued he was faster than his teammate and should have finished ahead of him, but Charles was able to keep it after some border line defensive moves into Turn 1. As Max got a penalty, I think Charles should have got one as well. Carlos showed his mental fortitude and battling to turn a bad Quali into another good points haul. This is exactly why Ferrari signed him.

7. Fernando Alonso (-+)

A down weekend for Fernando after his podium in Qatar, where it seemed he never got used to the new Jeddah track. He was knocked out in Q2 to start 13th and finished the race in the same position with a high-speed spin in between. He couldn’t match his teammates pace and was lapped in the end. My highlight for him was his facial expressions watching Verstappen’s final Q3 run, probably wishing he was in that car.

8. Esteban Ocon (+2)

Esteban was about 50 meters short of consecutive podium finishes for Alpine but was passed by Valtteri Bottas at the last. While he started 9th, he would find himself on pole by the Lap 17 restart. How may you ask? I am not 100% sure but he turned a Tsunoda squeeze into an overtake at Turn 1 and then used the Safety Car/Red Flag period to move up to 4th. At the first restart, he took advantage of Bottas’ lockup and the fight between the two title rivals to take 2nd. Once Max’s penalty was issued, this put Ocon on pole which he wasn’t able to hold but looked to have the pace to hold 3rd until the very last second. He should be proud of his pace and this pace was what kept him out of trouble. While he will be disappointed not to secure the podium, he should take confidence in extracting what he did from his Alpine in Saudi Arabia.

9. Sergio Perez (-1)

An unfortunate early bath for Perez on Sunday in Jeddah. He qualified 5th and was well within the danger zone going into Turn 1 on the restarts and unfortunately it was second time unlucky for him as he wasn’t able to give Leclerc enough space against the wall at the quick Turn 3, got clipped into the barrier and broke his transmission so was unable to put the car in gear. This ended his race and really put a dent in Red Bull securing the Constructors’ Championship.

10. George Russell (-1)

Another driver with an early bath in Jeddah and one that was directly linked to Perez’s exit at the second restart. While the cars in front slowed to avoid the horizontal Red Bull, Mazipin wasn’t able to react in time and drove into the back of Russell’s Williams for a heavy impact. This destroyed Mazipin’s Haas and broke Russell’s. He complained about the safety of the track and his radio message once retired was essentially ‘I told you so’ to the FIA.

11. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

Daniel wasn’t able to get into Q3 on Saturday, narrowly missing out in 11th but made up for it in the race. He also stayed out of trouble and used the red flag rule to his advantage and came home 5th, just in front of Leclerc. The reason he doesn’t move up on this list is that he can’t be trusted to put in consecutive positive performances at the moment. I also don’t believe he would have got that high up in a straight fight, but he will take it at the moment. Seemingly important points for McLaren but it is too little too late.

12. Valtteri Bottas (+1)

Valtteri was doing the team role in Jeddah until the red flag ruined Mercedes’ advantage and put him out of position. He nearly drove into the back of Verstappen at the second start and then got stuck behind Ocon for pretty much the whole race until he finally got onto the podium on the final lap. The Hamilton, Verstappen, Bottas combination is now the most common in F1 podium history, but he will probably only get one more opportunity to extend that in Abu Dhabi before he moves to Alfa Romeo.

13. Lance Stroll (-1)

Lance was essentially last in qualifying, only starting in front of the Haas’ but, again, stayed out of trouble to nearly find himself in the points, finishing 11th. I am not sure how he got there as the camera’s followed the battle for the lead. Stroll did well to not get taken out by the Lap 15 incidents, but he got no reward for his troubles in Jeddah.

14. Sebastian Vettel (-+)

Seb was unlucky with collisions on Sunday as he could argue he was driven into twice by Raikkonen and Tsunoda. He was running in the points after starting 17th until these incidents damaged his car too much to continue and he was forced to retire. This season is fizzling out for Aston Martin who are under big pressure to get things right next year or some culling is going to take place.

15. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)

Yuki showed promising pace in Jeddah, qualifying 8th and running in the points until contact with Vettel, when he should have really given up the place and lived to fight another day. However, his front wing got stuck underneath his car and he wasn’t able to move for a long time, losing bundles of time and ending his chances of points. He needs to put a result together to go with these turns of speed to convince Red Bull he deserves a spot in F1 beyond next year. His overtake on Leclerc at the banked Turn 13 proves his race ability.

16. Nicolas Latifi (+1)

Latifi gets a bump after finishing on the lead lap and just over 20 seconds off the points, which is a decent effort in this Williams. Unfortunately, we saw very little of him, but he finished ahead of Alonso in a car nearly on the podium. Good effort indeed.

17. Mick Schumacher (-1)

Mick lost the rear of the car at Turn 22 on Lap 9 to head straight to the scene of the accident which brought out the red flag and threatened to have big ramifications on the title fight. As it were, the threat didn’t materialize, but Mick sure felt the heavy impact of the tyre barrier. One more race in this forgettable car and we hope for his and the team’s sake, next year’s Haas is competitive.

18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

Kimi came together with his friend Vettel in quite a clumsy collision considering the two share 5 World Championships between them. This was the most notable part of Raikkonen’s race as he laboured home 15th and last. He has one more chance to thrill F1 fans before heading to retirement but I’m not sure its going to happen, he looks like he has checked out.

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

Gio showed good pace in the Alpha to secure a Q3 appearance and held on to his 9th place by the flag to add 2 points to his F1 tally. He also pulled off a great move around the outside of Alonso which showed certain other drivers *cough cough* how to overtake at Turn 1 effectively.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Finally, an incident I can report on that involves Mazipin where I can say it wasn’t his fault. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he found himself at the back of the queue who were slowing to avoid Perez on Lap 15 and he ploughed into the back of Russell as he couldn’t react and slowdown in time in a zone usually meant for full acceleration. The car was absolutely wrecked but it was good to see him get out unharmed from quite a scary crash.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Qatar Edition

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

What a difference two weeks makes in Formula 1. After the Mexican Grand Prix, Max Verstappen and Red Bull were sitting pretty with a nineteen point lead but after two Hamilton wins in a row in Brazil and Qatar, the lead is back to just over the seven point difference between a 1st and 2nd place finish. We could go into the season finale in Abu Dhabi with the two title rivals level on points, what an event that would be – the ultimate head to head.

Every weekend brings new drama and heightened tensions between the two juggernauts of Formula 1 2021. This week it was a 5-place grid penalty for Verstappen after he was judged to have ignored double waved yellow flags on his final run in Q3. While the yellows weren’t massively clear and there was confusion about where exactly the yellow zone was, it felt like a slam-dunk once replays showed him passing a yellow flag zone and not slowing down when passing Pierre Gasly’s stricken Alpha Tauri on the pit straight. Valtteri Bottas was also judged guilty but only given a 3-place penalty as it was only a single yellow when he passed through. This caused Christian Horner to say some unsavoury things about the marshals and stewards which got him a smack on the wrist from the FIA and for the phrase ‘The pot calling the kettle black’ to pop into my head. The battle to control narrative has been rampant this year but Horner overstepped the mark on this occasion. On the other side of the fight, Toto Wolff came out with strong words to say that the recent media talk about the slide of Mercedes has ‘woken the lion’, referring to the team and their seven-time World Champion driver and that they have some ‘spicy’ equipment (that engine) in the bag to help lead them to another unprecedented title.

On track, Hamilton and Mercedes had the edge as the best package on the grid and they took advantage with a pole to lights performance. Once Max had been demoted to seventh (he qualified on the front row) it felt like it was damage limitation to get back in range of Hamilton. It was thought that if he didn’t get in front at the start anyway, Hamilton had enough in the bag to win regardless. Max made a great start and while everyone went for the wide line at Turn 1, he went tight, found grip and moved up to fourth once Alonso slammed the door at Turn 2. Max did get past Alonso and Gasly for P2 after 5 laps with around an 8-second gap to Hamilton. What the two title rivals would go on to do was consistently drive 1.5 – 2 seconds faster than the rest of the grid, as Martin Brundle said in commentary – these two were not just in a different race, but a different formula. I am going to keep banging on about what sets drivers apart in a sport supposedly ruled by machines and this is an example. They take the car and beat everyone else into submission with it while making it look easy. They finished a minute ahead of the rest of the field in 57 laps.

Behind them, the standout performance was Fernando Alonso who secured his first podium since 2014, which is before Max Verstappen came into F1, to give it a bit of context. Alonso benefitted from the grid penalties but took full advantage with a great move around the outside of Gasly at Turn 2 and used the one stop to perfection to beat Perez for that final step on the podium. This also helped Alpine’s fight for fifth in the constructors. Speaking of Constructors, McLaren had another torrid weekend to lose even more ground to Ferrari after Norris suffered a late puncture while running in 4th. The secondary curbs proved a bit too much for the tyres as both Williams drivers and Valtteri Bottas got punctures which I don’t mind, the tracks should push the cars and drivers to the limit.

We move into the final two races of the season with both championships finely balanced and its just the way we like it. We go to essentially two new tracks (Abu Dhabi’s layout has been changed significantly which will make it 10 seconds quicker) which means we enter the unknown just at the right time for us, the viewers. Now, on to the rankings.

After Qatar Grand Prix (20 of 22)

1. Lewis Hamilton (+1)

Hamilton moves to the top of this list as the momentum is well and truly on his side after two wins in a row and he has closed the gap to Verstappen to 8 points. It is also expected that the Jeddah track in Saudi Arabia should suit the Mercedes with their fresher engine in Hamilton’s car. He looked the standard in Qatar and wasn’t troubled in the race to take his 5th win of the season. He will go into the last two races full of confidence and probably the slight favourite at this point.

2. Max Verstappen (-1)

Once Max got demoted on the grid, it took away any real chance of winning the race as long as Hamilton and Mercedes didn’t make any mistakes, which they didn’t. He got a great start and placed his car cleverly to get up to 4th and then quickly passed Alonso and Gasly. Once he was behind Hamilton, he wasn’t able to close and Red Bull tried the two stop strategy but Mercedes just shadowed them to bring it home. While Max is so strong mentally, this change in momentum must be worrying and something Red Bull need to get on top of if they don’t want Hamilton winning a title they probably should secure based on the statistics.

3. Charles Leclerc (-+)

Charles struggled during qualifying to the bafflement of himself and the team to line up 13th. It was discovered post qualifying that he had a crack in his chassis that would have been unsettling the car. He luckily didn’t have to change it, they could fix it under FIA regulations and he kept his 13th place grid slot. He had a relatively quiet afternoon but used the one stop to jump cars and get into the points, finishing 8th and only a second behind his teammate who started 5th. More solid points for Ferrari in their fight with McLaren and his individual battle with Norris for 4th in the Drivers.

4. Lando Norris (-+)

Lando can’t seem to catch a break at the moment. His race was ruined on Lap 1 in Sao Paolo and his race was ruined late on in Qatar when he had to make an extra stop due to a puncture to his Papaya-mobile which put him out of the points. He was able to get back into them for 9th but he was running 4th when his tyre failed. This would have been much needed points, McLaren have only scored 4 points in the last 4 races, which is the same as Alfa Romeo to put that into context. Not form to secure third place and I think that is already out of reach.

5. Carlos Sainz (-+)

Sainz once again was the leading Ferrari in qualifying and race in Qatar. He qualified 5th and finished 7th, which is maybe one space lower than he would have liked, letting Stroll get ahead of him. More consistant performing from the young Spaniard though.

6. Pierre Gasly (-+)

It was all looking peachy for Gasly after qualifying. He was promoted to the front row after Verstappen and Bottas’ penalties but that was where the fun ended for him. Ironically, it was his puncture and subsequent stoppage on the track that caused them to get the penalties in the first place. He pitted early after going backwards from second and was put into traffic where he couldn’t or wasn’t able to move through the field and by the flag he was out of the points in 11th. His fastest lap time would indicate that he just didn’t have the outright pace in the race to really trouble big points.

7. Fernando Alonso (+2)

That was a classic Alonso performance in Qatar. He dragged every ounce of performance from his car on a technical track that rewards bravery, consistency and precision – Alonso’s bread and butter. He was instantly quick on this new circuit and was rewarded with a 3rd place starting spot. His move around the outside of Gasly at Turn 2 was beautiful, he found a line that just gave him so much more grip and bravely took to the curbs to complete it. He probably caught Gasly napping as well. Once he sniffed a podium with the one stop, he never looked like losing it, even with Perez closing at the end. I think he still would have finished 3rd without the late virtual safety car. His first podium since 2014 is tragic for a driver of Alonso’s quality but it is probably his career decisions that have let him down in that regard. A Hamilton, Verstappen, Alonso podium is one that we should have seen way more than the solitary one occasion in Qatar.

8. Sergio Perez (-1)

Not getting through to Q3 in Qatar in a Red Bull was criminal from Perez and ruined his chances of a podium finish, or to help his teammate pressure Hamilton from the front. He did have a spirited fight back to 4th but wasn’t close enough to Alonso to catch up in the end. What he did do was secure more points in the Constructors fight they are desperate to win.

9. George Russell (-1)

George outperformed his teammate all weekend but was one of the victims of the curbs in Qatar. He was nowhere near the points all race so the puncture really didn’t effect things for him. Two more races and then it’s go time for Mercedes in 2022.

10. Esteban Ocon (+3)

Ocon got into Q3, albeit not quite as high as his teammate but used the one stop strategy to gain spots and do well to hold onto them. He partially repaid the favour to Fernando, after he kept Hamilton behind long enough in Hungary for Esteban to win that race, with a shorter defense of Perez but it was spirited and did effect the Mexican’s progress. He finished 5th which completed Alpine’s 2nd best result all season.

11. Daniel Ricciardo (-1)

Daniel keeps his spot mainly because I didn’t feel Ocon deserved to go up three spots. Daniel had a torrid time in Qatar. He was nowhere near getting out of Q2 on Saturday and didn’t trouble the points on Sunday, even finishing behind his teammate who got a late puncture. He is just inconsistent, his performance are so track based, it is hard to judge. You know what, he can go below Ocon, I’ve convinced myself.

12. Lance Stroll (+2)

A great race from Stroll who started 12th on the mediums and was able to gain places at the start and then had the pace to keep his tyres in range for a one stop strategy. His move around the outside of Tsunoda was lovely and he pushed on from there. He would end the race in 6th after holding off Sainz for a lot of the race and only half a second behind Ocon in 5th. He needed that performance after a run of poor drives.

13. Valtteri Bottas (-2)

Bottas was arguably unlucky to get a penalty but the rules are the rules. He didn’t help himself though with a rubbish start that dropped him from 7th to 11th and got him stuck behind slower cars. He struggled to get past initially but once he did, he showed good pace and was on course to enter the podium fight when his left front tyre let him and itself down. It would take him over a minute to get back to the pits and he would eventually retire to save the car. While he hasn’t performed as he would like, he does seem to get the misfortune at Mercedes, similar to Barrichello at Ferrari in the early 2000s.

14. Sebastian Vettel (-2)

Vettel outperformed with teammate in qualifying but that was probably his downfall in Qatar. This meant he started the race on the soft tyre, starting 10th and wasn’t able to do the one stop strategy, like his teammate. He did still come home in 10th for a point and a double points scoring event for the team.

15. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)

Yuki showed more of his one lap pace in Qatar but it was the same story on Sunday as in Sao Paolo, he didn’t have the consistant pace to keep up with the points battle. However, this time his performance was much less crashy. When we saw him during coverage it was usually being overtaken which is unfortunate. One thing in Yuki’s favour is that he did match his teammates fastest time in the race, which is probably not a common occurrence this season.

16. Mick Schumacher (+1)

Mick outqualified his teammate by 2.4 seconds and disappeared in the race which is a slam dunk in the Haas battle for supremacy. The race performance feels familiar but the qualifying difference was seismic. I know the car is bad but they are both driving it and that gap is bigger than the rest of the field combined, by 0.9 seconds, its not even close.

17. Nicolas Latifi (-1)

The weekend was going as you would expect for Nicolas Latifi until a late puncture at literally the worst place to get it – just as you pass the pitlane entry. As if like magic his tyre started to visibly inflate on the replay as he past the aforementioned pitlane entry and he had to complete more than a lap with only three functioning tyres. By the time he got back to the pits, they decided to retire the car as the front left wasn’t all pointing in the right direction.

18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

Kimi was knocked out in Q1 and only made up spots from his 16th place start due to retirements ahead. He slowly got away from his teammate in the race and was pressurising Russell until the Williams got a puncture in the late stages. The Alpha – Williams battle seems their level at the moment.

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

Giovinazzi mainly shadowed Raikkonen during the weekend and also only moved up the grid through retirements ahead to come home 15th, be it 200 seconds behind his teammate. With the lower teams in F1 looking towards 2022, the Alpha isn’t getting any better and both drivers are leaving so it does feel like their season is just fizzling out.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Another embarrassing comparison with his teammate in Qatar for Mazipin. 2.4 seconds is ridiculous but I have already shared my thoughts on that in his teammate’s section. In conclusion, that sums up his season.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Mexico City Edition

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

Max Verstappen took control of the Mexican Grand Prix at Turn 1 and took control of the 2021 Drivers Championship by the flag. He boasts a nineteen point lead with four races to go and one hundred and four points up for grabs. This might not seem a big advantage but in a season where Max and Lewis have basically finished first and second constantly, we are getting dangerously close to Max not having to win anymore races and still end up champion. For Hamilton to have any chance of winning an unprecedented eighth title, Bottas is going to have to interfere, which does not fill me with hope. After taking a surprising front row lockout on Saturday, it was imperative for Mercedes that they completed Lap 1 with the lead of the race. However, Bottas decided to give Verstappen his slipstream and then leave the racing line wide open down the kilometer run to the first corner for Max to break late around the outside and take the lead. Granted, it was a brave and well executed move from Verstappen, who then disappeared into the distance. This passiveness in battling has been Valtteri’s biggest weakness in a Mercedes and another reason why he didn’t retain his seat for next year. I’m doing my best to keep calm but it was just a complete waste of the advantage they worked for on Saturday and ruined the race for the neutral (or slightly bias Hamilton fans). Look at Perez’s firm defense of Hamilton in Turkey, tell me the last time Bottas did anything close to that to Verstappen – it will be hard to find because it doesn’t exist. Behind the championship battle, nothing really happened after the first lap incidents. With thin air, cooling issues and reduced effectiveness of the DRS it meant it was a mainly processional race. To compound issues, the field spread was crazy. After five laps of full speed racing, George Russell in tenth was twenty two seconds behind the leader and was nearing forty by ten laps.

In the other championship battles, Ferrari took third place in the Constructors from McLaren with a strong weekend’s work while the Woking team had a shocker. Alpine and Alpha Tauri are level on points in the battle for fifth place and bragging rights to a couple more millions of prize dollars. Finally, a couple shout outs before the rankings start: Gasly can’t seem to get any airtime, even when he is in a class of one for fourth place and Vettel for a great seventh place, which was really needed for Aston Martin.

After Mexican Grand Prix (18 of 22)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

That was a champions drive from Max and it wasn’t the first one he has driven this season. This performance was imperious and as soon as he took the lead at Turn 1, it felt like the fight was over. Max and Red Bull have been very quick in Mexico over the last couple of years and practice showed their advantage hadn’t disappeared. They somehow messed up Q3 to lose pole position but if anything, that helped them get the slipstream into Turn 1 they needed. Otherwise, they would have been vulnerable to the Mercedes. The race proved practice form right and Max took full advantage. His move around the outside was beautiful and decisive, typical of Max Verstappen and something we have become used to. He moved nineteen points clear and his hands are now inching towards that championship trophy.

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

Hamilton gave it his best shot but the Red Bull’s were too quick in Mexico. If anything, he got too good a start to pull alongside Bottas, and not behind him into the slipstream. He was pinched to the inside which cost him the lead and a potential chance to win. From there it was a lonely and frustrating race as he watched his championship rival disappear down the road. He was able to stay in second in front of Perez to minimise the damage done. Lewis needs to win in Brazil or it could be over very quickly.

3. Charles Leclerc (-+)

Another good weekend for Ferrari in their battle with McLaren and another pretty quiet race for Charles. He started eighth and was up to fifth by the end of the first lap. He would stay a couple of seconds ahead of his teammate in the first stint but couldn’t keep up with Gasly in front. Leclerc really struggled on his hard tyres so the team let his teammate go to hunt down Gasly but he was unsuccessful. They switched them around before the flag for Charles to finish fifth.

4. Lando Norris (-+)

Tenth place would indicate another problematic weekend for Norris and McLaren. However, he started in eighteenth and did well to progress into the points on a track where it is actually quite hard to overtake, despite the kilometer and a half main straight. The pace just hasn’t quite been there since Russia with the McLaren not suiting the tracks as well as their rivals but his teammate is starting to become the quicker driver.

5. Carlos Sainz (-+)

More points for Sainz in Mexico. He went long in the first stint to try and create at tyre advantage to attack Gasly but unfortunately he wasn’t able to close enough to challenge. He dutifully let Leclerc take back his fifth spot in what was a pretty quiet race.

6. Pierre Gasly (+2)

Pierre Gasly must get another opportunity in a big team at some point. I just doubt it will be in a Red Bull, which is a shame. Gasly has shown speed, maturity, consistency and race craft this year but only needed the speed and consistency in Mexico. He started a fantastic fifth and took advantage of Bottas’ spin to take fourth and ran away with it. He was in a class of one and was barely seen on TV because of it.

7. Sergio Perez (-+)

Sergio is inserting himself into this title fight and really helping Red Bull take control of both championships. He threatened pole position until an errant Tsunoda distracted him and he had to settle for fourth. He pressurized Hamilton all race and become the first Mexican to stand on their home podium. Not a bad weekend.

8. George Russell (-2)

Not much George can do at the moment as it seems that the car’s mid-year renaissance has simmered. He started and finished sixteenth and that is all I know about his Mexican Grand Prix. He stays here because of the reasons I mentioned previously, I am sure he can’t wait to get going with Mercedes.

9. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

A misjudgment by Daniel going into Turn 1 ruined both his and Valtteri Bottas’ races. He locked up on the inside line, spun Bottas around and lost his front wing. This put him at the back and with damage to the underside of the car, he was losing a second a lap in aero performance. He came home in twelfth but he should have got points.

10. Fernando Alonso (-+)

A disappointing qualifying session for Fernando as he didn’t get out of Q1 but was helped by engine penalties to move up to twelfth on the grid. He went long in the first stint and made up spots to come home in ninth and get some key points for Alpine in the race for fifth in the championship. They are currently level on 106. He also pulled off a great move around the outside of Russell on the way to points.

11. Valtteri Bottas (+1)

Valtteri produced a great lap to take pole but that was the best his weekend would go. He let Max have a clean run down into Turn 1 and then was clipped by Ricciardo. One was his fault and the other wasn’t. He did make pretty good progress once he had clear air but Mercedes pitted him twice late on to help take away Max’s fastest lap point.

12. Sebastian Vettel (+1)

A really solid weekend for Seb while his teammate faltered. He made Q3, qualifying ninth and then had a quiet but quick race to finish seventh. It probably wasn’t the race Seb falls back in love with F1 but a good result for the team.

13. Lance Stroll (-2)

Not a good weekend for Stroll, he crashed early in Q1 as he got too wide at the final corner, got onto the marbles and went straight to the scene of the accident. He started at the back and had a couple of silly offs, one with Ricciardo trying to overtake into the high speed section in the middle sector. A scrappy weekend but as we all know this will be water off a ducks back for Lance, he will get another chance to make amends.

14. Esteban Ocon (-+)

I forget about Ocon quite a lot when thinking back on the races and this one was another where he didn’t really show. His main TV exposure was being used to show the chaos of the first corners but the contact he sustained may have caused him damage. He was another driver taking engine penalties so started nineteenth and made it up to thirteenth by the flag. His fastest lap was six tenths slower than his teammates which probably best illustrates Ocon’s struggles in the race.

15. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)

Yuki made it a hattrick of Q3 appearances in Mexico. This is confidence boosting progress as his one lap pace has really lacked recently. He wasn’t able to show off this new found pace as he was one side of an Ocon sandwich, was pitched onto the curb and bollard at the apex of Turn 2, which shut the engine off and ended his race. A shame for him but it looks like his performance is going in the right direction, just a bit slowly.

16. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

Nicolas was not able to get out of Q1 but did start thirteenth with the engine penalties. However, he was not able to move any further up the field and finished seventeenth. There really isn’t much else to say.

17. Mick Schumacher (-+)

Mick was caught up in the first lap contact as he was the other side of the Ocon sandwich, which caused rear suspension failure and ended his race as well. Weirdly, only the filling of the Ocon sandwich didn’t sustain damage while the bread was broken. That’s enough sandwich based analogies for one day.

18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

There is the old Kimi Raikkonen that we know and love. He started tenth with the engine penalties and moved up to eighth by the end of the race. He kept good pace with Vettel throughout to collect some much needed points after Alfa Romeo have just missed out recently.

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

Despite a quick meeting with the barriers in Q2, Antonio was able to separate but missed out on Q3 anyway. He took advantage of the lap 1 chaos to move up to sixth but was screwed by Alpha’s suspect strategy that pitted him really early and he had to nurse his tyres to the end, losing touch and championship points, finishing eleventh.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Another weekend, another last place for Nikita Mazipin. He was the only one to end up three laps down but his fastest lap was quicker than Latifi’s. I am really trying to find positives and interesting to say about him but keep failing.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – USA Edition

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

We may look back on the USA Grand Prix of 2021 as a defining moment in this year’s title race. The win was always going to be between Max and Lewis, excluding any crazy scenarios playing out. The win for either would have significant consequences – for Max, it would give him a double digit lead going into Mexico and Brazil, two races where the Red Bull has been the quickest car the last couple of years, without being that during those said years (While Mercedes have particularly struggled in Mexico due to its altitude’s effect on their cooling). This would put him in a very strong position going into the final three races of the year. For Lewis, a win would give him back the lead in the championship and help build some momentum going into a potentially tricky fortnight. As it would go, the two cars were separated by 1.3 seconds at the flag, with the Dutchman taking it in first place and the twenty five points. The reason this could be seen as a defining moment is that it felt like Red Bull have become the strongest overall team, with their bold strategy, and were helped by their driver’s brilliant drive, at just the right time. Meanwhile, Mercedes are having to take more grid penalties and relying more on the talent of Hamilton to make up for their passive decision making. Red Bull took the initiative with their early stop to gain track position and it always felt like they weren’t going to let it go. In the meantime, they were able to turn around a one second deficit from Practice 1 to take pole by two tenths and the race win, hurting Mercedes’ momentum and left them looking a bit flat on Sunday evening. Not to mention, Verstappen extended his lead in the championship in fine fashion to hold the largest lead since the season restarted. If Max gets the better of Lewis over the next two races, the title race could be over. However, as I write this, Murray Walker’s voice is shouting at me “anything can happen in Formula 1, and it usually does”. One retirement or issue for Max in a race and Lewis is right back in it, if not on top. I hope this championship goes down to the final race, it’s what it deserves.

The race behind the leading battle had some good battles, especially between two former World Champions in Alonso and Raikkonen which did spark a track limits debate. It’s an annoying subject as it seems to change at every track. I think we should just stick to the white lines as the edge of the track and be done with it. You just have to have a tyre on that white line to be classed as on-track. We just need consistency there so all drives know the score.

The McLaren-Ferrari battle seems to have swung towards Ferrari in the last couple of races with Leclerc stretching away from the pack this time but McLaren still lead the battle for third by three and a half points.

A few quick shout outs before I get into the rankings. A much needed result for Yuki Tsunoda and a stronger weekend all round. Great effort from Sergio Perez, whose drinks bottle failed on the way to the grid and had to pass under the Heineken sign fifty six times reminding him that he ‘shouldn’t drink and drive’ – that’s just rubbing it in. It is hard to imagine the heat of a sunny Texas day with three layers of fire proof overalls, a balaclava and a helmet on, while driving a fighter jet for a hundred minutes. The fitness of these modern F1 drivers is truly elite.

After USA Grand Prix (17 of 22)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

The USA Grand Prix was a prime example of the development of Max Verstappen into arguably the best driver in the world. He didn’t panic when he lost the lead at the start but shadowed Hamilton in the first stint, staying within undercut range so that Red Bull could pull off their new strategy. Once Red Bull pulled the trigger on the early two stop strategy, Max used his tyres up perfectly, especially in the third stint when he could have come out, pushed the tyres to gain an advantage but he would have run out at the end. However, he eeked them out, being two to three tenths a lap quicker than Hamilton so when the Brit pitted, he closed quickly but Max had enough tyre life to keep him at arms length and he wasn’t able to overtake. This could be the most important win of his career so far.

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

Hamilton gave it his best shot on Sunday in Austin but it wasn’t quite enough. I think Mercedes should have pitted him a couple laps earlier for his second stop as they let the gap to Max get a bit too big. That isn’t just hindsight, I thought so at the time – they needed to keep Max within seven seconds, but let it get above eight. This just gave him a bit too much to do, but without Mick Schumacher giving Max DRS on the penultimate lap, he may have pulled it off. He needs a win in Mexico to close that gap before it’s too late.

3. Charles Leclerc (+1)

Charles deserves this boost in ranking for the form he has been in during the last month of F1 racing. He tailed the leaders in Turkey, flirting with winning and then was in a race/class of his own for fourth in Austin. He finished over twenty seconds ahead of his closest rivals. While Norris has had some off weeks, Charles has taken up the challenge to snatch the last step on this particular podium.

4. Lando Norris (-1)

Lando has been quiet since his near-win in Russia. I don’t know if its a bit of a hangover, which is understandable, but McLaren need him at his best to hold on to third in the Constructors Championship. He was always in between battles after the first lap scrap between the McLaren and Ferrari drivers. He nearly took them all out at the hairpin of Turn 12 but was able to get on the brakes enough to keep out of trouble. From there he didn’t really have the pace to trouble those in front and he came home in eighth.

5. Carlos Sainz (-+)

Carlos qualified right behind his teammate and had a great battle with Ricciardo that started on the first lap and lasted the whole race. Carlos pulled off a great move to stay ahead of Ricciardo through the twisty first sector on Lap 1 but he would have to let him through again as he was deemed to have overtaken off the track at Turn 12. This cost him a lot of time as he was stuck behind the McLaren for the rest of the race. He was also overtaken by Bottas at the death to come home in seventh in a frustrating race for the Spaniard as he watched his car’s potential disappear down the road.

6. George Russell (-+)

A weekend more reminiscent of George Russell’s first two years in F1 in Austin. He started at the back after more engine penalties, finished ahead of people he would expect to beat while not really being quick enough to join the midfield fight. His main action was battling faster cars on fresher tyres after they had pitted and he finished in fourteenth thanks to some retirees. He keeps his place on this list due to his upcoming career move and the fact that he has shown without doubt he deserves to be at this end of the grid, despite the car he drives.

7. Sergio Perez (+1)

Sergio is really finding some form and consistency with this Red Bull. Christian Horner has put it down to the team & Sergio finding a set up that he is comfortable with and it could not have come at a better time for them. He was a thirteen hundredth of a second from securing an All-Red Bull front row but just missed out to Hamilton to start third. His water bottle broke on the way to the grid which is no laughing matter on a hot Autumn day in Texas while driving a Formula 1 car. The cockpit can get up to 50 degrees and without hydration, you can lose consciousness. Perez talked of losing strength in his hands and arms at the end of the race but luckily for him, his pace was strong enough that he didn’t have to get into direct combat with others. A second podium in a row for the Mexican as he goes into his home race in the best form of his Red Bull career. Would Red Bull let him win his home race if he puts himself in position to do so but Max is directly behind him…? Probably not.

8. Pierre Gasly (-1)

Another Q3 appearance for Pierre Gasly, this time accompanied by his teammate, for ninth on the grid. This was as good as his weekend was going to get as a sensor issue had to be fixed on the grid and he lost a couple positions at the start. To make things worse, his car developed a suspension failure early on that got progressively worse until he had to retire on Lap 16. After a really good result last weekend, Gasly was not able to build on that with reliability hitting once again.

9. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

Daniel’s inconsistency continues, but luckily it was the good weekend’s turn for Ricciardo in Austin. He outqualified his teammate for sixth on the grid and was the main McLaren interfering with Ferrari’s attempt to snatch away third in the Constructors Championship in the race. He side-by-side display with Sainz on the first lap through the twisty first sector was a thing of beauty – even if he did come out behind. He got the position back and set out to annoy the Spaniard behind for the rest of the race, showing some great defensive driving to keep the faster car behind. He was even able to keep the fast approaching Bottas behind to secure fifth place for the Woking based team.

10. Fernando Alonso (-+)

Fernando gave us our money’s worth with aggression on-track and over the radio. His and the team’s annoyance at Raikkonen’s overtake around the outside of Turn 1 , which they deemed to be out of bounds, directly led to some more juicy action with Raikkonen’s teammate as he attempted the mother of all divebombs at the hairpin which he rightfully had to give immediately back, ironically for track limits. He gave it another good go a couple laps later but was also unsuccessful. All of this was for non points scoring positions and Alonso would retire late on, alongside his teammate. It feels like Alonso is giving much more to F1 than it is giving back at the moment.

11. Lance Stroll (-+)

Lance was spun at the first corner by Nicolas Latifi who was being sandwiched into an ever closing hole himself, and that basically ruined his race. He battled back up to twelfth, surpassing his starting position of thirteenth but he probably thought points were on the cards as his teammate got them from eighteenth.

12. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

Bottas had to take a second engine penalty in three races which put him in the pack, starting ninth. It took him twenty laps to get past Tsunoda for eighth and by that time he had fallen quite back from the cars in front. He was, however, able to reel them in and got ahead of a McLaren and Ferrari to finish sixth.

13. Sebastian Vettel (+1)

A spirited drive from Vettel from eighteenth on the grid to get a point. He made some places up at the start and then had good pace to get ahead of the lower midfield. His moment of the day was overtaking Russell around the outside at the multi-left hander 16-17-18 complex, which was a confident move that was well worked to position his car and Russell’s to create the opportunity.

14. Esteban Ocon (-1)

Ocon had to change his front wing on the first lap after contact with an Alfa Romeo that pretty much settled his fate. It put him way behind the pack and out of sequence. He tried making the hard tyre go long again but the team decided to retire the car late one while he was running in seventeenth.

15. Yuki Tsunoda (+2)

For the second weekend in a row, Tsunoda made it into Q3 and held up a Mercedes in the race. This time he held up the Mercedes for much longer and was able to hold on to his points scoring spot. He was the last person lapped by the leading two to cross the line in ninth and take two points back to Italy.

16. Nicolas Latifi (-1)

Seemed to be a quiet race for Latifi, who was in a race of his own by the looks of it. He started fourteenth but got quickly overtaken by his teammate and then drove by himself to finish fifteenth. He was the last non-Haas finisher.

17. Mick Schumacher (-1)

Another weekend of dominance from Schumacher over his teammate but his teammate did have headrest issues. His fastest lap was 1.5 seconds quicker than his Russian counterpart. I bet he can’t wait for 2022 and to see if all this pain has been worth it.

18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

Some bullish driving from Kimi to keep at it around the outside of Alonso at Turn 1 paid off and set him up nicely around the points. However, he couldn’t keep his tyres together as well as others and he dropped to thirteenth at the flag after a spin in the first sector.

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

Antonio just missed out on points, finishing eleventh on what was a better performance by himself and the team. He got ahead of his teammate because of a mistake but you got to keep it on the track. It looks increasingly likely that we are counting down the races of Gio’s F1 career.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

His headrest became lose at Turn 2, which would have restricted his vision and ability to look into the mirrors but hopefully would have been fixed at his first stop. He did his usual concrete bollard impression to get in the way of lapping cars but apart from that, it was a lonely drive at the back once again.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Turkey Edition

Welcome to the sixteenth edition of my F1 driver POWER rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition after the Russian Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here. A quick admin note as well, I have just realised that I have been putting the wrong total of races on all my posts – it’s not 23, but actually 22. My bad. Call myself an F1 fan.

For the second year in a row the weather played a major part in the outcome of the weekend at Istanbul Park. The changeable and windy conditions caused the drivers problems all weekend with the rain only threatening qualifying but came for the race. We knew before the weekend that Lewis Hamilton had a 10-place grid penalty for taking his fourth internal combustion engine for the year, so would start highest eleventh and do his best to limit the damage done by Verstappen in the championship fight. Hamilton duly took pole but was demoted to eleventh but his teammate Bottas was able to at least keep Verstappen behind. The race didn’t quite live up to expectations but there was some good action and brave driving. It felt like a constant wait for the conditions to improve enough for dry tyres but never really came, which Vettel found out and Hamilton and Leclerc really hoped for. The main talking point post race was Mercedes and Hamilton’s back and forth about whether they could go to the end without pitting. Hamilton questioned the team’s call to pit but was eventually overruled, losing two positions in the process with only eight laps to go. He lost five points to Verstappen in the championship and in such a close run-in, all the points changes are going to be heavily scrutinized as the finale draws close. Well done to Valtteri Bottas who drove a commanding and calm race to win for the first time in over a year and to exorcise the demons of Turkey 2020.

After Turkish Grand Prix (16 of 22)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

The Red Bull didn’t have the speed of the Mercedes all weekend so Max perfectly played the long game and picked up seventeen points and probably the max he was expecting from the Grand Prix. Of course, he wants to win every race but Bottas drove well enough to win. He extended his lead in the championship to six points after getting all his spins out of the way when it didn’t matter. A double podium finish for the team as well helped close the gap to Mercedes in the other championship. Max will now try and defend his lead in Austin.

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

Annoyingly for Hamilton, without the engine penalty, it looks like he would have won the Turkish Grand Prix from pole and extended his lead in the championship. However, Mercedes found irregular noises coming from the engine so decided it best to be safe rather than risk a DNF. He made decent progress from his eleventh place grid slot to find himself fifth after fifteen laps but was a fair way off the leaders. He caught Perez but couldn’t get past so when the others started pitted for their second set of inters, Hamilton decided to stay out. It really was a knife edge decision and a year after Lewis won the race because he stayed out, I think it was the wrong decision this year and may have cost him a chance at getting past Perez and Leclerc in front for a podium. If he had stayed out, I think he would have been powerless to defend if they caught him while risking a tyre blowout and no points at all. He came home fifth and lives to fight another day because this title fight is far from over.

3. Lando Norris (-+)

A quieter weekend in Turkey for Norris after the rollercoaster that was the Russian Grand Prix. The McLaren is very track sensitive and the long, medium speed corners of Istanbul Park don’t really suit the papaya-mobile. However, he qualified and finished seventh which isn’t bad for a so-called quiet weekend for the young Brit. It shows the ways this team has come since Norris first drove for them in 2019.

4. Charles Leclerc (-+)

A classically gutsy and fast drive from Charles Leclerc that started at third on the grid, shadowed the leaders for the majority of the race, tried to brave it out on inters but was forced to pit and came home in fourth, four seconds off a podium. At one point I thought he genuinely had a chance of winning the race while staying out but his rear tyres failed him. While Carlos is getting the plaudits for getting up to speed quickly in his new car, Leclerc is consistently performing to a high standard and isn’t wilting under the pressure of leading the Scuderia.

5. Carlos Sainz (+1)

Carlos won his first driver of the day award in Turkey and it was a great drive from the back of the grid. He was the main form of entertainment as he came through the field and seemingly overtook a car a lap into the final sector and only his overtake on Vettel had a small love tap which didn’t cause any issues. He did get stuck behind Stroll and Gasly which slightly dented his progress but eighth is a good result from the back.

6. George Russell (-1)

A quieter weekend on paper for George Russell but I am sure he will look back at a missed opportunity. He hit the loud pedal a bit too early at the exit of the last corner on his final run in Q2, had to correct the slide and lost all of his good work. His good work looked good enough to be in Q3 but instead he started thirteenth, lost two positions early and never recovered his losses. He apparently had a good scrap with Alonso and Ricciardo but the TV cameras did not pick that up.

7. Pierre Gasly (-+)

A much needed weekend for Pierre Gasly and Alpha Tauri as he was quick in both dry and wet conditions to start fourth on the grid. He only lost positions to the quickest cars on the grid and I thought he was hard done by with his five second time penalty at the first corner. Perez came late onto his inside and he did not have much room to maneuver with Alonso on his outside which resulted in him making contact with the Spaniard. From there, he was quick enough that the penalty didn’t effect his race and he came home relatively unchallenged in sixth ahead of Lando Norris.

8. Sergio Perez (+2)

This was a big result for Perez to re-introduce himself to the title fight. He isn’t going to win the fight but Turkey felt like the first instance in a while where he actively helped Red Bull in said fight. He started sixth but his aggression at the start, to the detriment of Gasly and Alonso, got him into the leading bunch. He also held his own when called upon to keep Hamilton behind as he quickly caught on Lap thirty-seven, with some great car positioning and bravery on the brakes. He completed the hat-trick as his pace on new inters forced Mercedes to pit Hamilton from third and cost him six valuable points in the championship.

9. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

Unfortunately for Ricciardo, this weekend was more in line with how his season has gone. He was knocked out in Q1 so the team decided to take a new engine and he dropped to the back of the grid. He made some progress up to thirteenth at the flag but never got anywhere near to the points that his team need him to consistently score in their battle with Ferrari in the Constructors.

10. Fernando Alonso (-+)

Alonso was the innocent victim of the Turn 1 clash after qualifying a quality sixth place. He would have been a good bet for some great points and maybe even that podium in those tricky conditions but instead was stuck in traffic after dropping to the back. He also got a five second penalty, but rightly so, for clumsily spinning Mick Schumacher at Turn 4 trying to recover his race. He finished in sixteenth place which was definitely not what he hoped for from his Sunday.

11. Lance Stroll (+1)

Lance was once again the fastest Aston Martin in Turkey. A year after he lead for most of the race in the last edition of the Turkish Grand Prix, he showed consistant pace to bring home some points for his team – two in fact. This Aston Martin seems to be the fifth or sixth fastest car so back end of the points are probably the best you can expect at the moment.

12. Valtteri Bottas (+2)

It was a commanding performance from Bottas once he inherited pole position due to his teammate’s engine penalty. He was able to create a gap to Verstappen in the first stint and never felt opposed until he had to overtake Leclerc trying to go to the end without pitting, but even that was straightforward and calmly done by the Finn. Once Leclerc was dispatched, he coasted to victory. This could be due to the security and ease a multi-year contract gives you, and it seems to be suiting him. He has scored the most amount of points since he signed that contract, helping to prove my point.

13. Esteban Ocon (-1)

Ocon didn’t have the pace of his teammate in Turkey but was able to finish ahead of him and collect the final championship point. He was able to do that because he did not make a pit stop, becoming the first driver since Olivier Panis in 1997 to do so. In wet conditions the drivers aren’t obliged to use two compounds of tyre, like in the dry, so it was worth someone trying it and luckily for Ocon it paid off this time.

14. Sebastian Vettel (-1)

Sebastian was in contention for some points in Turkey before he made the wrong decision to put medium slick tyres on Lap 38 when the track was not ready for it. This cost him dearly as his lap took about three minutes and dropped him to nineteenth. He was only able to recover past Mick Schumacher to finish eighteenth. He gambled and this time he lost.

15. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

A quiet weekend for the second Williams as well. He was able to get through into Q2, like his teammate but that was the highlight of his weekend as he went backwards in the race to finish seventeenth.

16. Mick Schumacher (+1)

Mick made it out of Q1 for the first time in his career and showed that he possesses some of that Schumacher wet weather magic. He outqualified his teammate by a whopping 2.9 seconds, which is unheard of in modern F1, even in wet conditions. Its the first time proper that we have seen the gulf in the two Haas drivers and I’m not going to use this to bash Mazipin, well not in this paragraph anyway, but if you ever needed proof which driver deserves to be in F1, you now have it. This is the difference the driver can make. Mick was unlucky to be spun by Alonso early on, who was penalized, but may have struggled to keep up. His best lap was a second off the midfield pace.

17. Yuki Tsunoda (-1)

The weekend was looking up for Yuki, as he got into Q3 and qualified ninth but he just didn’t have any pace in the race to trouble the points. He held up Hamilton for about six laps at the start but that was the notable action for him. Everyone was expecting more from the Japanese driver in his rookie season so lets hope for his sake that his second season is better.

18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

The two Alfa Romeo’s started next to each other on the grid and they finished the race together. This time it was Kimi behind Giovinazzi in eleventh and twelfth after starting in sixteenth and seventeenth. I don’t think we saw the Alfa’s on screen at all on Sunday so there isn’t much else to analyse. Unfortunately for the Ice Man, his career is just fizzling out in a slow vehicle.

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

More rumours swirl of potential replacements for Giovinazzi’s drive and it is looking increasingly likely that he wont be in F1 next year but he isn’t really doing enough to prove otherwise. A decent result in Turkey but nothing to prove he deserves to stay in the sport.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Here we go: getting outqualified by your teammate by 2.9 seconds is a disgrace, and at the very least highly embarrassing for the Russian pay driver. At least Stroll can drive a car fast even if his Dad did buy the team. His teammate was spun around, lost a whole load of time, but still finished ahead in Turkey. To be honest, Mazipin could win the next race in Austin and that wouldn’t change my mind about him. That is probably bad of me but his presence is an indication of a major flaw in the sport’s infrastructure. Much better drivers aren’t getting opportunities because people like Mazipin can buy their way in. The car better be good next year or what was the point of all this!?

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Sochi Edition

Welcome to the fifteenth edition of my F1 driver POWER rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition after the Italian Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here. I am sorry that this has come out after the next race. It’s poor from me but sometimes life gets in the way. Better late than never.

What a second half to the season we have been treated to. Since the restart of the season, only Zandvoort has been without major incident or talking point. Russia did not let the side down in that respect, however, for British fans it probably wasn’t the talking point they were seeking. McLaren’s resurgence has been well documented over the last three years and it was looking like Norris was about to rubber stamp their return with back-to-back wins for the team, the first since Hamilton and Button drove for them, but heartbreakingly he missed out by three laps. Norris did everything right all weekend, took a fantastic pole in the wet and drove a really mature race to be in prime position with six laps to go. Then the rain came. I love rain in F1 but I was doing my anti-rain dance like nobody’s business on Sunday, but obviously the F1 Gods had different plans. The Russian Grand Prix showed just how much of a team effort it takes to win in Formula 1. Mercedes had the information, guts, decisiveness, whatever you want to call it to bring Hamilton in for intermediate tyres and that won them the race, the 100th career victory for Sir Lewis Hamilton. I have had the pleasure of watching every single one of those victories and I still can’t quite believe he has made it. When Schumacher retired, I was convinced his records would stand the test of time, but as he left, his equal showed up right away and announced himself from the very first corner of his career. Hamilton isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but what he has achieved is truly unique, quite like himself. When the dust settles on humankind, he will be seen as the King of F1, I am convinced of it. All he needs to do now is get that eighth title, but against a formidable Max Verstappen, it will be no easy feat. At least people won’t be able to say it’s just the car. It never has been that way with Lewis; he has just been good enough to find himself in those cars. As Martin Brundle says “The best drivers find their way into the best cars”.

Now, on to the rest of the race. Rain once again caused chaos on Saturday with lots of the sessions cancelled. A gap in the weather was found for Qualifying to go ahead and it once again caused an entertaining and interesting grid. Verstappen was always going to start at the back with his engine penalty taken, but he was suddenly joined there by Leclerc and Bottas, who took penalties themselves. We got a glimpse into the future at the front with Norris, Sainz and Russell occupying the first three slots on the grid and the start did not disappoint, with slipstreaming and maneuvering going on all down the grid at the run down to Turn 2, the first real corner of the lap. Sainz and Norris were able to move ahead with Russell creating a DRS train behind him for the first stint. This did split the pack into groups, but the action didn’t stop. It does, again, spark thoughts in my head about the pros of a reserve grid, as a mixed-up grid almost guarantees action, see Hungary, Italy and Russia for that. Once the dust had settled after the first round of stops, Hamilton and Verstappen still had some work to do to get through the field, which they did do to differing extents but the threat of rain always loomed. It started coming down with about eight laps to go, in the Turn 4/5 area but the rest of the track was dry, probably the hardest conditions to call in F1. This is where the driver and team must both be on form and make the correct decisions. It was clear that the rain was causing issues but enough to risk pitting for inters? Some thought yes and some thought no. Hell, Lance Stroll spun into the barriers two seconds after telling his team it wasn’t ready for inters yet. Fortunately for Hamilton and Verstappen, they and their teams made the right call and McLaren did not. The radio communication did sound more panicked than that of Mercedes, but this will be a learning moment for the team and I am sure they wont make the same mistake twice. With the top two title protagonists finishing in those spots, the fight for the crown is now right back on with only two points separating them with seven races to go. It will go down to Abu Dhabi, I can feel it. What a season this has been. Now, enough rambling from me, onto the power rankings.

After Russian Grand Prix (15 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

I think if you had offered Max a second place before the race, he would have bitten your hand off. This was the perfect damage limitation weekend as they expected Hamilton to win the race and they minimized the points lose to him. Max was making solid if not spectacular progress by the time the rain came down. He was sitting in the 6/7/8th range for quite a while. However, he and the team made the right call and, in the end, he came home a comfortable second place. There really isn’t a flaw in Max Verstappen’s performance anymore, (apart from his lack of ability to know when to give up a corner but we have been over that) so that means that mistakes or retirements can not be counted on by his opponents. He is only two points behind Hamilton in the championship with more ‘Red Bull’ circuits coming up so it is still all to play for and you probably have to say he is the favourite, ever so slightly.

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

Hamilton achieved something this weekend that no other human in history has, to win 100 Formula 1 races, and he went back to the top of the championship table. If Max hadn’t had such a strong result, he would be on top of this list. He and Mercedes had a messy qualifying session so he lined up fourth, which probably cost him an easy run to victory, such was the pace advantage he seemingly had over the rest of the field. When Hamilton was in clear air during the race, he was a second a lap quicker than everyone else. He fought his way back up to second and then the team helped him complete the comeback to win his fifth Russian Grand Prix. I never want to wish away time, but I wish I could watch the run in to this season on back-to-back days, a full week of mayhem. It is going to be that good as the two best drivers of their generations go head-to-head. Lewis isn’t ready to give up his crown just yet, who knows if he ever will be.

3. Lando Norris (-+)

It’s been a week since that Sunday in Sochi and it still pains me that I am not writing that Lando momentously won his first Grand Prix in Russia. He did everything right but win. He showed off his wet weather skills once again, to take a convincing pole over Sainz and Russell as he was up the sharp end for all of qualifying, it wasn’t just a fabulous individual lap. Even though he got a good start from pole, the slipstream was so strong that he was passed by Sainz into Turn 2 but he did not panic or take to re-overtake him in the braking zone. No, he sat behind, biding his time, and got past before the first round of pitstops using the back straight DRS zone. He went long and then pitted into lots of space once he had got away from Sainz but still had the fast-incoming Hamilton to deal with. Once Hamilton had caught him, Norris showed that mental steel to not make any mistakes (on track anyway) and was looking very likely to win the race. Then the race came. This will be a learning moment for both Norris and McLaren, most of the team were not around during McLaren’s last stretch in the winning column. The slightly panicked and emotional radio messages were contrasted with Hamilton and Mercedes’ calm, been-there-done-that messages, showing the benefits of experience in this high intensity fights. What I would have wanted to see from McLaren’s pit wall was more conviction, there was too many questions about the weather, rather than telling Norris. They had lots more information than he did, but Norris’ explanation that their forecast showed the rain would not get heavier does help explain their conceding of the decision to the driver on track. They will heavily review and improve because of this which I am sure will lead to the right decision next time.

4. Charles Leclerc (-+)

Charles started at the back in Sochi after an engine change penalty which skews his result slightly against his teammate’ podium finish. Like Norris, he tried to stay out in the rain and it backfired. His race started promisingly after a fantastic first lap, rising to twelfth from nineteenth and was driving in the points until, like Norris, decided to stick it out in the rain and it backfired. He crossed the line in fifteenth to get nothing from his hard work.

5. George Russell (+1)

After two and half years of no points, George Russell is now making it a habit. Another weekend where George showed how brightly his star is shining at the moment. He qualified third on the grid in wet conditions, with his teammate unable to get out of Q2. He was able to hold on to his position on the first lap and kept the pack behind him until the first round of stops as the team decided to go long and he lost out to the undercut. With the chaos that the rain caused, George was able to bring the car home in tenth and fulfilled the team’s pre-race expectations of points. Even though the team is definitely on the up and the car is improving, George is outperforming it for sure. The decision made by Mercedes just keeps looking better and better for them.

6. Carlos Sainz (+1)

If Carlos hadn’t already won ‘newcomer of the year’ as a driver who moved team over the winter, this performance put his name on that trophy. He has been so impressive for Ferrari this year and stretches his lead in the intra-team podium battle to 3:1 over Leclerc. He qualified on the front row in tricky conditions and used the two to take the lead on the first lap. He lost the lead to Norris but had a good gap behind with a podium looking likely. He lost second to Verstappen in the switch to inters stage but got his well deserved podium. That’s already more than he had during his two years at McLaren.

7. Pierre Gasly (-2)

Pierre’s light has dimmed slightly over the last couple of races. He wasn’t able to get into the top 10 in qualifying and his pace in the race wasn’t great. He tried going long but the rain took away any tyre advantage he would have been able to utilise and he finished thirteenth.

8. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

He didn’t quite get to the levels of his teammate in Sochi but it was a great result for Ricciardo. He qualified in fifth and was in the fight for the podium push until a slow pitstop cost him valuable time. He held off Hamilton for a long time which boded well for his teammate later on in the race, but unlike his teammate, pitted early enough onto inters, and took the advantage to finish in fourth. With his teammate’s woes, Daniel brought home some great points for the team.

9. Fernando Alonso (+1)

Alonso became one of the few people that have overtaken Max Verstappen in a race this year when he passed him on Lap thirty eight. He could have got on the podium if they had pitted a few laps before but, nonetheless, a performance to be proud of to finish sixth. He had a great battle with Perez and Leclerc on dries in intermediate conditions that showed how tricky it was but also the brilliant car control of the gladiators behind the wheels.

10. Sergio Perez (-+)

A weekend where Perez was once again off his teammate’s pace but he did trouble the top places in the race. However, he only collected two points for the team after running as high as fourth when also gambling on dries. He probably deserved a better finish but the pace was at least there.

11. Esteban Ocon (-+)

Esteban’s weekend peaked on Saturday where he qualified ninth but didn’t hit the heights of his teammate. He was slower all weekend and wasn’t threatening the points before the rain and the rain didn’t improve his situation.

12. Lance Stroll (-+)

Lance went for it at Turn 2 after starting seventh and got himself up to fourth with some brave car positioning. He pitted early which probably cost him as he dropped into traffic. He slowed when the race came and had a couple spins, getting a penalty for his one with Gasly and nearly took out his teammate. His emotions seem quite high in the car and I think that might disadvantage him sometimes as he gets trigger happy on the throttle. He ended up not getting any points as Aston Martin washed out in Sochi.

13. Sebastian Vettel (-+)

Sebastian had a quiet weekend in Sochi and was really only threatening the last points scoring positions, running in tenth for quite a while but was caught out by the rain as he stayed out one lap too long and missed out on points, coming home in twelfth.

14. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

Bottas was forced to start at the back after taking engine penalties, some thinking to help keep Max behind during the race. However, when Bottas was required to defend against Max, he just left the door open and the Dutchman waltzed through on the back straight. This lack of fight sums up Bottas’ slow decline out of that Mercedes seat, he just hasn’t shown the fight needed to stay in the battle. He came home fifth in the end which was good points but could have finished in front of Verstappen really.

15. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

Latifi also had an engine penalty in Sochi and that compromised his race compared to his teammate. He wasn’t able to finish the race after spinning in the slippery conditions while on slicks. He was barely shown on the coverage but his recent performances keep him here.

16. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)

Another really tricky weekend for Yuki who wasn’t on the pace again during the race after qualifying in twelfth. He finished seventeenth and only in front of the Haas’s. It is looking a bit desperate for him.

17. Mick Schumacher (-+)

An off weekend for Mick who still qualified in front of his teammate but dropped behind him in the race and eventually had to retire due to technical issues. These things are going to happen from time to time.

18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

Kimi comes back to the team and instantly puts Giovinazzi back in his place. He was running in and around the points for the whole race and then gets the tyre decision right to move up to eighth at the finish and some valuable points for the team. I’m going to miss him when he’s gone.

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

Not good for Gio that Kimi shows what can be done in that car. He was nowhere near the points all race and finished sixteenth. Not much to write home about.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Mazipin drove around and probably gone in people’s way, not much else I want to say about this. He was having his home race by himself once Mick retired.

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 – 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.