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 – Baku Edition

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

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

After Azerbaijan Grand Prix (6 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

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

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

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

3. Sergio Perez (+4)

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

4. Charles Leclerc (-+)

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

5. Pierre Gasly (+1)

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

6. Lando Norris (-3)

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

7. Carlos Sainz (-2)

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

8. Sebastian Vettel (+3)

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

9. Esteban Ocon (-+)

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

10. Lance Stroll (-2)

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

11. Fernando Alonso (+3)

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

12. Daniel Ricciardo (-2)

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

13. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

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

14. George Russell (-2)

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

15. Yuki Tsunoda (+3)

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

16. Valtteri Bottas (-1)

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

17. Antonio Giovinazzi (-1)

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

18. Mick Schumacher (-1)

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

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Spain Edition

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

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

After Spanish Grand Prix (4 of 23)

1. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

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

2. Max Verstappen (-+)

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

3. Charles Leclerc (+)

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

4. Lando Norris (-1)

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

5. Lance Stroll (+1)

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

6. Daniel Ricciardo (+3)

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

7. Sergio Perez (-2)

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

8. Pierre Gasly (-1)

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

9. Carlos Sainz (-1)

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

10. Esteban Ocon (+1)

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

11. Fernando Alonso (-1)

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

12. George Russell (-+)

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

13. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

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

14. Sebastian Vettel (+2)

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

15. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

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

16. Mick Schumacher (+2)

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

17. Yuki Tsunoda (-3)

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

18. Antonio Giovinazzi (-1)

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

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Portugal Edition

Hello and welcome to the third edition of my F1 driver power rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition of it after the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here.

The 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix around the beautifully undulating and picturesque Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao was not a classic, but for the avid F1 fan, it was an interesting and quite telling event. The roller coaster-like nature of the track, high winds and a surface that was reluctant to give out much grip made life hard for our beloved drivers from Friday morning right until the chequered flag on Sunday. On the surface the result may sound quite ordinary – a Lewis Hamilton win – but delving deeper will reveal exactly why HE, and not THE CAR, won this race emphatically.

After Portuguese Grand Prix (3 of 23)

1. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

Toto Wolff put it best when he said “He just drove an immaculate race…it makes no sense to talk about these exceptional performances because they have become quiet regular now. It’s his standard now.” We have become desensitized to this type of performance from Hamilton and some hide behind the ‘its just the car’ argument – which is just pure laziness. His ability to harass and stay close to the car in front despite the dirty air effect stands him above the rest. This gives him opportunities to overtake that others don’t get, and his ability to take those opportunities makes winning races like Sunday’s look easy. He now also knows how to do it all while keeping his tyres alive. When he was in a McLaren, these abilities are what made him challenge and win but in a Mercedes it has made him dominate. He overtook both championship rivals at Turn 1 – one inside and one outside – to then control the race from the front for win number 97, and we take it for granted.

2. Max Verstappen (-+)

However you feel about track limits, Max has been making mistakes when it matters at the start of this season. Red Bull claim Max has lost a race win, a fastest lap and a pole due to track limits violations but only the fastest lap I have issues with. Sounds like classic F1 blame tactics. Max had a time good enough for pole deleted in Qualifying 3 but he did go further than the kerb limit and the performance was in the car, he just didn’t quite deliver. A nice move around the outside of Hamilton at the Lap 7 restart gave his fans hope, but an oversteer moment at the final corner a couple laps later gave Hamilton his opportunity back, and from there Max just couldn’t quite match the Brit. A late pit-stop for new tyres to attempt the fastest lap elongated the time difference but once Hamilton was ahead he didn’t look troubled. 2-1 to Hamilton.

3. Lando Norris (-+)

These type of performances are what we are coming to expect from Lando Norris. A solid 7th on the grid was a nice surprise after he didn’t show much pace throughout Friday or Saturday practice but found it when it mattered. Is this just a sign of his confidence and comfortability that he doesn’t need to push the car until necessary? While his qualifying pace has been really solid, it’s his race craft and execution which impresses me the most. It is now 2 races in a row where has had to take softer tyres than those around him for a longer final stint to secure points. He did without making any mistakes and, apart from Hamilton, he didn’t look under real pressure from those behind. Another cherry on top for this weekend was a beautiful overtake around the outside of Ocon on Lap 1. I see shades of Hamilton and Schumacher in Norris’ ability to find overtakes others wouldn’t think of or have the talent to pull off.

4. Charles Leclerc (-+)

Out-qualified by his teammate, and for the first time in a long while Charles didn’t maximise his Saturday. He started 8th in Portugal and made up a spot over Ocon at the Lap 7 restart. He really played second fiddle to his teammate Sainz until the pit stops when he put the hard tyre on, which turned out to the right decision. He was able to finish 6th while Sainz dropped out of the points altogether as his medium tyres lost performance. This strategy was born on Saturday as Leclerc was quick enough to get into Q3 using the slower mediums to set him up nicely for a more durable Sunday, which secured him his 6th place.

5. Sergio Perez (+1)

Perez had a quiet but encouraging weekend in Portugal. He finished qualifying a place, and a tenth and a half behind Verstappen to line up 4th on the grid. He was also on the leading pace in the race when in clean air, but he lost 10 seconds to the leaders behind Norris after the safety car restart and wasn’t able to close once he got ahead again. He and Red Bull will take that result and progress.

6. Lance Stroll (-1)

A thoroughly anonymous weekend for Stroll in Portugal. He was knocked out in Qualifying 1, only above Haas and Williams who are currently fighting over 2nd last in F1 to not doing anything noteworthy on Sunday. For his form this season we have to give him the benefit of the doubt this time around so he only drops one place on this list.

7. Pierre Gasly (+1)

Gasly always felt a little bit behind the action on Sunday, was overtaken by the man he is replacing on this list – Daniel Ricciardo – and finished behind him in the race. However, he climbs to 7th because he is getting more from his respective package and being the team leader Alpha Tauri need him to be while his younger teammate finds his feet. The now-usual Q3 appearance for the Frenchman was converted into a point to keep the scoreboard ticking over for the Italian team.

8. Carlos Sainz (+1)

Another man that Daniel Ricciardo beat to the chequered flag in Portugal but drops below of in my take-no-prisoners POWER rankings. The reason this time is that Sainz feels closer to Leclerc’s pace than Ricciardo to Norris. The Spaniard qualified a brilliant best-of-the-rest 5th place but was undone by Ferrari’s strategy. He was asked to take the mediums longer than pretty much everyone else when the tyre of the day was the hards. He eventually ran out of grip to fall back to 11th. Despite the result, more evolution in the Sainz-Ferrari partnership.

9. Daniel Ricciardo (-2)

Ricciardo made life harder for himself failing to progress out of Q1, so he started 16th. This meant his weekend became more about damage limitation than true performance. He did have a nice fightback in the race to come home in 9th after running long in the first stint, but didn’t progress as expected afterwards and only moved forward due to Sainz’s tyre issues. Still lots to be done before he starts to threaten Norris’ superiority.

10. Fernando Alonso (-+)

Fernando stays put for now after a much more promising weekend for Alpine all round. He stays 10th because despite a nice flurry of overtakes to finish 8th in the race from 13th on the grid, he was outperformed by his teammate all weekend. He was also helped by much younger and better suited tyres than those around him to climb that high in the second half of the race.

11. Esteban Ocon (+3)

The standout performance of the weekend has Ocon jumping the most in this edition of the driver POWER rankings. A seemingly much improved Alpine gave the Frenchman this opportunity and he pretty much maxed out. He was never lower than 6th, his starting position, in all three qualifying sessions and drove a patient race to finish 7th to pick up his biggest points haul of the season. This weekend should have really boosted Ocon’s confidence going into his teammate’s home race – a good time to find some form.

12. George Russell (-1)

‘Mr Saturday’ really lived up to this name in Portugal. He battled that Williams to within six one hundredths of a second of a first Q3 appearance for the legendary team. He reported that once the wind picked up on Sunday, the car became quite undrivable and he fell down the field to 16th. He still blew his teammate out of the water and is the only reason Williams are relevant at the moment so he maintains his mid table position.

13. Kimi Raikkonen (-1)

A strange mistake from Kimi at the end of Lap 1 ended his race prematurely and could have easily ended his teammates as well. Kimi was changing switches on his steering wheel when he drifted into the back of his teammate, broke off his front wing, which got stuck under his front tyre and ended up in the gravel trap rather unceremoniously. He only drops one place because the drivers below all had meh weekends.

14. Yuki Tsunoda (-1)

Yuki was half a second off his teammate to line up 14th on the grid and then went backwards in the race to finish 15th. Portimao is a tricky circuit for a rookie meeting it for the first time so these sort of weekends are expected. His pre-season hype is yet to fully flourish into race results but Spain is a familiarity to all F1 drivers due to its mainstay on the Motorsport calendar, so I am expecting more from him there.

15. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

This again feels harsh having Bottas down at this end of the table despite a pole position and a podium finish for the Finn in Portugal. The reason he is here is because, not for one moment from him claiming pole to finishing the race did I ever think we was going to win it. He got away well and smartly restarted the race after the safety car, but then was boldly overtaken around the outside of Turn 1 by Hamilton to take the lead, and then was overtaken by Verstappen after the first round of pit stops. A slow Mercedes stop did put him under pressure from the Dutchman but Bottas barely put up a fight when Verstappen eased through up the inside into Turn 5 – resigned to his fate almost. It looked like Bottas only realised Verstappen was there until they were mid corner. He’s now got rumours of Russell replacing him mid season to deal with.

16. Sebastian Vettel (+1)

A much better event for Seb Vettel isn’t properly reflected by his position on this list but definitely a step in the right direction. It was hard to get worse to be fair. His first Q3 appearance in literally years should do him a world of good and he beat his teammate to the flag for the first time this season as well, albeit out of the points in 13th. You must learn to walk before you can run.

17. Antonio Giovinazzi (-1)

Another good weekend for the Italian as he qualified and finished 12th. He survived the contact with his teammate to have a rather unassuming race and be the last car to be lapped. He is slowly but surely coming good in that Alfa Romeo and putting more and more weekends like this together will give the team a harder time when picking their driver line up for next year – they will have options.

18. Mick Schumacher (-+)

We had a proper Haas sighting on Sunday in Portimao as Mick finished ahead of a Williams after passing him on track in the closing stages of the race, which us viewers were lucky enough to witness. He also finished a minute and a half ahead of his teammate to do a George-Russell style teammate smackdown on Mazipin.

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

Latifi was the Williams being overtaken by Schumacher if you hadn’t already worked that out. He was probably just grateful for the company and attention as he does a lot of driving around minding his own business at the back. Another quiet and unimpressive weekend for the Canadian after showing some sign of progress in Imola.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Mazipin looked out of his depth driving around this tidal wave of a circuit. He qualified last by more than half a second and then finished a minute behind anyone else in the race. What can you say to that? He didn’t seem to spin as much this weekend but I could have just not noticed.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Emilia-Romagna Edition

Hello and welcome back to my F1 driver power rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my first edition of it after the Bahrain Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was both entertaining and chaotic in equal measure with the rain shower minutes before the race causing the teams to think on their feet and for the drivers to re-adjust their focus, which is always a recipe for fun. We witnessed a lot of rough and tumble, with the drivers having to find the limit on the fly around this old-school narrow and unforgiving circuit. The close proximity of the barriers and gravel traps lining the track meant mistakes were punished, which is the way it should be. In danger of sounding like an old man already – they don’t build race tracks like that anymore.

In this edition of the power rankings new stars start to emerge, a few young guns climb and some established names continue to fall. However, that’s all I’m giving you, you will have to read on to find out more.

After Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix (2 of 23)

  1. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

A couple of uncharacteristic mistakes from the 7-time World Champion scuppered his chances of race victory in Imola. The first being tying to brave it around the outside of Verstappen at Turn 1 when he was always driving into a narrowing wedge, losing part of his front wing end plate in the process. This cost him an estimated 3 tenths per lap thereafter. The second mistake was being a bit too impatient trying to lap George Russell on Lap 31 which put him on the wet part of the track, causing an inevitable lock up and visit to the barriers. It took him over a minute to get out of that predicament, by which time he was a lap down and his teammate had brought out the red flag after a huge crash with George Russell on Lap 32. This actually saved Hamilton’s blushes as he was able to fix his car and get back on the lead lap when the race restarted. A more characteristic fight back to second with some pinpoint overtaking and a fastest lap on the way helped maintain his championship lead over Verstappen which has kept him at the top of this list. Those 18 points saved could be crucial at the end of the year in what is increasingly looking like a two-way fight for the title in 2021.

2. Max Verstappen (-+)

A mistake on his final qualifying lap cost him pole position on Saturday but he immediately made up for it on Sunday by taking the lead after a great start in wet conditions into Turn 1. He then went on to pull away in the race until Hamilton closed the gap before the only pit-stop of the race when the timing to switch to slicks would be crucial. Red Bull chose the perfect time to pit him, one lap before Mercedes called Hamilton in and this helped to extend the gap once more. We were denied a grandstand finish with Hamilton’s gravel trap excursion, but I think it would have been hard to overtake Max with only one dry line into the overtaking spot at Turn 1. With Hamilton fighting back through the field, Max had a clear and simple journey to his first win on Italian soil. This should not take away from the fact that Max looks as strong as Hamilton in wet conditions and is starting to tick all the World Champion boxes. A semi spin at the restart only really showed me his exceptional car control to keep it going in the right direction circa Brazil 2016. Even when he makes a mistake it looks good.

3. Lando Norris (+1)

Norris just keeps getting better and better and his Imola weekend showed us many reasons why. He missed out on P3 in qualifying by a couple of inches due to track limits violations on his last qualifying lap but as Martin Brundle said in commentary, that violation was not where his lap time came from; he was genuinely quick enough. Starting 7th he kept out of trouble at the start, and a fantastic double overtake on Stroll and Sainz really showed off his opportunistic race craft. He then went on to dominate his teammate in the wet, so much so that the team had to ask Daniel to move out of his way with Lando quickly disappearing up the road. Another brave overtake on Leclerc at the restart put him up to 2nd which he held onto until Hamilton caught him two laps from the end, but a 2nd career podium finish for the young Brit was more than deserved. While lots of mistakes were made on Sunday, I didn’t see Lando put a foot wrong, especially under extreme pressure from behind for the last 15 laps. A thoroughly impressive weekend all round.

4. Charles Leclerc (-1)

Leclerc continues to maximise his Ferrari’s potential by sticking it at the sharp end of the grid on Saturday, starting 4th in Imola. He got past Perez on Lap 1 and then drove away to have quite a quiet race until the restart, when he was overtaken by Norris which would eventually lose him a podium position. The McLaren’s straight-line speed probably kept Lando ahead in the latter stages as Leclerc was able to follow closely but the opportunity just didn’t arrive to have a go. He loses one spot just because of how impressed I was with Lando’s performance, probably the best of his career.

5. Lance Stroll (+1)

Another weekend when he out-performed his vastly more experienced teammate and moved forward in the race to secure Aston Martin championship points. Starting 10th for the second straight weekend, he was able to stay in the fight this time around as he made up 3 spots at the start and held on to them to finish 7th on the road. However, he was given a 5 second time penalty and demoted to 8th after he was deemed to have overtaken Pierre Gasly off the track on Lap 11, which unfortunately I have not been able to see. At this stage in the season while Aston Martin try and understand where their car is lacking, Lance is getting the most out of it and picking up crucial points. He just needs his teammate to get his act together and join him there.

6. Sergio Perez (-1)

A great Saturday turned into a disastrous Sunday for Perez. The first front row start of his career to out-qualify his teammate was much needed after Bahrain, however, after being beaten off the line by Verstappen he was never on the pace to challenge for the win or give Red Bull the tactical advantage over Mercedes. He lost a spot to Leclerc at the start, lost another to Norris in the pits and was 50 seconds behind his teammate on Lap 32 when the red flags came out to temporarily stop the race. Once the race got going again, Perez spun at the Gilles Villeneuve chicane when he went a bit too wide mid corner and got onto the wet line, dropping him down the field. He would finish 12th and out of the points on a day when a podium was the minimum he would have expected from himself. He is still getting used to this car, so mistakes are expected but as we know this Red Bull team do not give their drivers much time to correct them.

7. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

Daniel did not have the pace of his teammate all weekend in Imola and was beaten thoroughly on Sunday by Norris. At times he was a second a lap slower than the Brit. However, he still lined up as the leading McLaren on the grid and finished 6th in the race. The reason he doesn’t move down this list is because he still picked up solid points in a car he is still figuring out, and the people below didn’t do enough to leapfrog him. I have confidence that Daniel will be on Lando’s pace before long and we can see some typical Aussie dive bombs coming soon. This shows the place McLaren are in when 6th feels like a below average result.

8. Pierre Gasly (+2)

Another excellent qualifying from the Frenchman to stick the Alpha Tauri 5th on the grid was unfortunately let down by the decision to start the race on full wet tyres, while the vast majority of the grid chose the intermediates. It was soon proved to be the wrong decision as no more rain came and the track dried out. Gasly did well to keep the cars behind for so long but by the time he pitted he was 19th. The restart saved his race as he was able to battle up to 8th with some nice overtaking and errors ahead aiding his effort. We need to see an error free weekend from Alpha Tauri to truly judge where this team sit but in flashes this car is super-fast and Gasly has shown he can handle the pressure once more after his fateful Red Bull stint.

9. Carlos Sainz (+3)

While he admits himself that he still isn’t fully comfortable in this Ferrari, which he described as like learning how to drive in a new racing category compared to his previous McLaren, he would be satisfied with finishing only 1.5 seconds behind his teammate on Sunday to finish 5th. Being knocked out in Qualifying 2 to line up 11th and making a few mistakes early on Sunday would have annoyed him. However, a sign of a good racer is that he didn’t let them effect him or his weekend and as points are handed out after the race, history will tell us this was a good weekend for Sainz Jr.

10. Fernando Alonso (-2)

Alonso was off the pace all weekend in Imola for Alpine. He was out-qualified by a teammate for the first time since 2018 to line up 15th and then was never really involved in the action on Sunday. He was lucky to finish 11th on the road and then promoted to 10th due to Raikkonen’s time penalty while his teammate finished one place ahead. The silver lining is that these are Alpine’s first points of the season but Alonso looked much more his punchy self in the desert.

11. George Russell (-2)

The more I watch the Russell – Bottas crash, the more I think that George just misjudged the gap, got onto the wet patch of track and lost control, collecting Bottas in the process for as high speed a crash as you will see in F1. George has since apologised and back tracked on some comments he made about Bottas in the aftermath. It did feel symbolic as Russell tried to overtake the man he hopes to beat to the Mercedes race seat in 2022 but not quite the result he would have wanted. Before this he was having another very solid weekend as he threatened top 10 in qualifying, lining up 12th, and was fighting for points in the race. He drops down because to impress any potential employer, you can’t be taking out one of their cars and this was a massive missed opportunity for his Williams team to pick up some rare points. Strong words from Toto Wolff post-race show George still has some ways to go to get that coveted Mercedes seat.

12. Kimi Raikkonen (-1)

A rather complicated 30 second post-race time penalty for not getting back into the right position and then for not entering the pit lane after he had spun behind the safety car at the restart meant Kimi dropped out of the points from finishing 9th on the road. In his defence, the stewards themselves admitted the rules are confusing in regards to this area of the regulations. The Alfa team did ask for clarification at the time but did not get a response back quick enough to fix the issue. Apart from this mishap, he continues to be a mature and safe pair of hands in the race to make up for lack of qualifying pace in this Alfa Romeo.

13. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)

Mistakes cost the Young Japanese driver dearly on both Saturday and Sunday. He crashed out in Qualifying 1 carrying too much speed into the chicane at the top of the hill, losing control of the back end of his Alpha Tauri and nearly ripping it off when he collected the barrier. This meant he started 20th and last on Sunday. He proceeded to make up ten spots in the first half of the race only to throw it all away again at the restart trying to overtake Hamilton on the inside of Turn 1. He got onto the damp patch of track, hit the throttle a bit too enthusiastically and around she went, dropping him to the back once more. He got back up to 13th at the flag, but this will feel like a missed opportunity. Yuki has time on his side as this is only his second race and mistakes will happen, but his speed is obvious which will put him in good stead once he cuts these rookie errors out.

14. Esteban Ocon (+2)

A better weekend for the Frenchman where he convincingly out-qualified and then beat his 2-time World Champion teammate in the race. This Alpine looks like the 6th or 7th quickest car so it may be hard for Ocon to prove himself, but this sort of weekend and having a world class driver to compare to will help. He jumps up because the two drivers below had shockers.

15. Valtteri Bottas (-1)

Bottas went from being quickest on Friday to having a nightmare weekend. He qualified 8th on the grid after complaining about not being able to switch the tyres on enough to get the performance he wanted, but the sister Mercedes lined up on pole. He went backwards in the race to eventually become one half of the crash that brought out the red flag on the infamous Lap 32. While the crash wasn’t his fault, he shouldn’t have been in the position to get involved in it in the first place. While Hamilton makes driving an F1 car look easy at times, Valtteri makes it look bloody hard at times and this was one of those occasions. He is already 28 points behind his teammate in the drivers’ standings and is driving himself towards that dreaded ‘number 2’ driver role in this championship fight.

16. Antonio Giovinazzi (+1)

A frustrating end to the weekend for Antonio as a mechanical issue meant he had to pit late on in the race when he was running 10th and on course for his first points of the season. He was out-qualified by Kimi and out-raced but he did deserve that point after staying out of trouble and not making any mistakes.

17. Sebastian Vettel (-2)

Another weekend Vettel would rather forget but will need to analyse closely if he is to quickly change his fortunes around. The thin silver lining would be that a brake by wire failure on the way to the grid meant that the car can be blamed for Vettel’s time penalty – for not being in position with 5 minutes to go before race start, having to start in the pit lane, his lack of race pace and his retirement with 2 laps to go. He did make it out of Qualifying 1 which is an improvement on Bahrain but he isn’t in this sport to start 13th.

18. Mick Schumacher (-+)

A pretty anonymous weekend for the German driver apart from an embarrassing crash behind the safety car due to some over-enthusiastic weaving on the main straight. Luckily for him he was already at the back so only lost 1 position and was able to catch up once he pitted for a new front wing. He did beat his teammate on both days pretty convincingly despite that crash and that is all he can do at the moment.

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

I was pleasantly surprised by Latifi’s Saturday performance to put his Williams 14th on the grid and even got through Qualifying 1 in 11th. However, his Sunday ended in clumsy fashion as he spun at Aqua Minerale on Lap 1, didn’t look both ways when re-entering the track, got clipped when he drifted across onto Mazipin’s racing line up the hill and destroyed the front of his Williams to bring out the first safety car of the race.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Slowest in qualifying and last in the race is fitting for the last placed driver on this list. Apart from being involved in Latifi’s accident, which wasn’t his fault, not much to say about his race apart from that its good he finished this one to get much needed experience under his belt.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Bahrain Edition

Welcome to my F1 driver power rankings. This will be a continuous series throughout the year where I will rank the current F1 drivers after every race to determine who truly holds all the power in the F1 paddock.

I hear you asking — How are you determining what power means? For me it is driver form, reputation, car performance, relative position within their team and record against teammate. All these will be taken into account when making my decisions.

These are my personal opinions and no one else’s.

The grid below is the power rankings before the season began. Underneath it is my first update after the Bahrain Grand Prix. I hope you enjoy, and please let me know if you think differently about the rankings in the comments section. However remember – “Extraordinary claims must be backed up by extraordinary evidence” (Lance Armstrong – when he was definitely cheating)

1. Lewis Hamilton 2. Max Verstappen
3. Charles Leclerc 4. Sergio Perez
5. Lando Norris 6. Daniel Ricciardo
7. Lance Stroll 8. Fernando Alonso
9. Pierre Gasly 10. George Russell
11. Kimi Raikkonen 12. Sebastian Vettel
13. Carlos Sainz 14. Valtteri Bottas
15. Esteban Ocon 16. Yuki Tsunoda
17. Antonio Giovinazzi 18. Nikita Mazipin
19. Mick Schumacher 20. Nicolas Latifi
Preseason Standings

After Bahrain Grand Prix (1 of 23)

1.       Lewis Hamilton (-+)

Hamilton won the Bahrain Grand Prix with the lesser car and held on beautifully with Max Verstappen bearing down on him in the later stages. His monster 3rd stint on the hard compound showed off his tyre preservation skills that have become a trademark. Finishing well ahead of his teammate showed that Hamilton just gets more from the car in all departments and that speed proved the decisive factor in the end.

2.       Max Verstappen (-+)

Verstappen should have won the Bahrain Grand Prix, make no mistake. Once again, some impatience from the Dutchman proved to be fatal when he overtook Hamilton off the track at the first opportunity when he could have waited and made an easier pass down the main straight, he had the car and tyre advantage to do so. This is something Hamilton has learnt over time and I fully expect Max to not make the same mistake again. A differential issue did affect his pace but it’s a team sport and the formula has be perfect. These two drivers are still the elite of F1 and Bahrain just confirmed that we have a hell of a fight on our hands for the title this year.

3.     Charles Leclerc (-+)

Charles keeps his place on this podium with a fantastic 4th place in Qualifying and solid 6th in the race. His qualifying pace is quickly becoming a trademark after he routinely stuck last year’s Ferrari where it didn’t belong on the grid and that form has continued. Beaten by a consistent Norris and resurgent Perez on Sunday can’t really be argued with in an improved but not yet front running Ferrari. 

4. Lando Norris (+1)

An assured and decisive drive from Norris topped an altogether solid start to the season for the young Brit. Beaten by his teammate on Saturday by half a tenth to 6th and 7th on the grid but he got ahead on lap 1 with what is becoming a trademark move – around the outside at Turn 4 –  and again on Gasly at the lap 4 safety car restart. He pulled away steadily from the crowd behind through the pit stops to finish 6 seconds ahead of Perez but more relatively 20 seconds ahead of the sister McLaren.  

5. Sergio Perez (-1)

A shock exit in Qualifying 2 having not being quick enough on the medium tyre did look reminiscent of the struggles previous Red Bull drivers not called Max Verstappen have had in recent years. However, this was equaled out by some calm thinking to manually restart his car after a power cut on the formation lap to save his race, albeit starting from the back. Arguably showing Red Bull’s decision to go with experience in the 2nd seat was a correct one. Consistent pace and some clinical overtaking got him to 5th. He drops just because of that unfortunate qualifying. 

6. Lance Stroll (+1)

A quietly solid weekend for the Canadian driver combined with a slow, mistake ridden weekend for his teammate means he rises one place on this list. A Qualifying 3 appearance in this apparently much affected Aston Martin was a positive, followed by a P10 finish on Sunday after being overtaken by Yuki Tsonoda on the final lap. He had a good scrap with Alonso and Sainz but was always just slightly off the leading midfield runners. That is probably the maximum this team can expect at the moment. Despite the forever lingering knowledge that his Dad owns the team, Lance is starting to steadily prove that he deserves that seat on merit alone. 

7. Daniel Ricciardo (-1)

We have since discovered that rear floor damage caused from contact with Gasly was costing Daniel performance throughout Bahrain’s race which does help explain the 20 second gap to his teammate ahead. This combined with beating Norris to 6th on the grid does make you wonder why I have dropped him down one place in the power rankings, but he was beaten in wheel to wheel combat by Norris before the damage occurred and Stroll’s relative position in his own team dealt this blow to Ricciardo. It’s a long season so lots of time to improve but a really solid start from the McLaren boys and girls. 

8. Fernando Alonso (+-)

Fernando stays 8th in the power rankings following an expected and thoroughly Alonso-ey weekend. He comes back after 2 years away as a 40 year old, gets into Q3 (his teammate started 13th) and was solidly running into the points until a stray sandwich bag got caught in his brakes, causing them to overheat and forcing him to retire. His on-track performance was as if he never left. His retirement is the only reason he isn’t higher as a pointless weekend for the French team wasn’t the way they wanted to start 2021.

9. George Russell (+1)

Russell continued his Williams-teammate-qualifying-competition whitewash and beat an Alpine on Saturday, to then follow that up on Sunday by beating Vettel to the flag in another confidence building weekend. He had a nice tussle with Raikkonen during the race but the car still has a bit to go to get into that midfield battle. All George can do at this moment in his career is lead this team forward and outperform the car. I believe he is doing both excellently. 

10. Pierre Gasly (-1) 

A clumsy mistake trying to make up lost ground at the safety car restart ruined Gasly’s race in the short term and ended it in the long term. This was a disappointing end to a weekend that started so beautifully with a 5th place start on the grid. This Alpha Tauri is quick which was proved by both teammates in qualifying so this will feel like a missed opportunity to get solid points in what is going to be a monumental fight in the midfield this year. Gasly should be slightly anxious about that teammate of his as well.

11. Kimi Raikkonen (+-)

The Ice Man starts 2021 with a characteristic drive to maximise his car and minimise his race time to beat his teammate to the flag by 12 seconds after being beaten by him in qualifying. This Alfa Romeo looks like an improvement on last years to become a part of the midfield battle, which should give him opportunities to grab points with his seemingly endless supply of race pace in the latter stages of his career. I hope he never retires. Kimi for President. 

12. Carlos Sainz (+1)

A solid opening weekend for Sainz for the Red Team with an 8th place finish in the race and only finishing 7 seconds behind Leclerc. I think the 6 tenths difference in qualifying says more about Leclerc’s confidence than Sainz’s lack of pace. I am sure Ferrari would have taken a double Qualifying 3 appearance on this power track after their recent struggles in that department. I think Sainz can be happy with his work in Bahrain. 

13. Yuki Tsunoda (+3)

The hype continued from preseason into Bahrain as the young Japanese driver showed speed, aggression, creativity and consistency in his first F1 race weekend. Quite the combination to now back up. The highs of P2 in Qualifying 1 transformed quickly to lows with P13 in Qualifying 2 trying to get through on the medium tyre, showing the confidence of this Alpha Tauri team but backfiring on this occasion. He rose in the race to finish 9th with some brave late-braking moves, his pass on Alonso a particular highlight, while he experienced a race with F1 levels of dirty air and tyre degradation for the first time. His physical stature may deceive you, he is looking like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. 

14. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

I may be being a bit mean to Valtteri with his placing on this list. He does drive a Mercedes and is quick enough on his day but it just feels like he is as far away from the title as he’s ever been. Hamilton’s status in the sport continues to rise and the Bahrain Grand Prix just highlighted the gap between them. Bottas once again faded in the race before a slow pit stop late really put the nail in the coffin. He can get on pole every now and then against Hamilton, but his consistent race pace is not good enough to challenge for the title seriously and that is the only objective if you drive the Silver Arrow in this hybrid era. George Russell coming in for one race last year and showing him up really didn’t help his cause. The reason Valtteri is this low is that I feel he has the least leverage in all of F1 to keep his race seat for 2022 and until proven otherwise he will stay here. 

15. Sebastian Vettel (-3)

Seb suffered a tricky opening weekend in British racing green. He didn’t look comfortable as he got to grips with his new machine after only 2 days running during testing and practice. He was knocked out in Qualifying 1 to line up 18th until a 5 place penalty for not slowing sufficiently for yellow flags relegated him to last. He didn’t show much pace in the race either and had another clumsy accident, this time with Ocon at Turn 1. This collision was his 17th in 53 races, not the form of a 4 time World Champion. Crossing the line 2nd last in 15th place means it can only go up from here. Fingers crossed for him because it would be a sad decline for the German if this continues. 

16. Esteban Ocon (-1)

Ocon got shown up by Alonso in Bahrain. Getting knocked out in Qualifying 1 to start 16th and then being in no-mans-land behind the midfield battle during the race was only saved by Alonso’s retirement. This means they are still level on points and Ocon can save some face. He is going to have to fix up and look sharp, and do it quickly.

17. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

Ghosts of Giovinazzi’s past mean that he starts low on this list for me. He has speed but loves an unforced error. He has been less mistake ridden since the 2nd half of last season but like Bottas he doesn’t have much leverage for me. Ferrari have some very promising youngsters coming through and two young stars in the works team so seats will be at a premium. Gio hasn’t shown enough yet to prove he deserves one. He needs to start beating Kim on Sundays to start getting in the conversation. 

18. Mick Schumacher (+1)

Mick looked much the more assured Haas rookie in Bahrain. The car looks very slow and twitchy which is not a productive combination, but Mick unqualified his teammate by 8 tenths and was the only Haas to finish the race so it was a productive weekend for him. This car is looking so bad the main competition will be themselves this year so important to get that advantage early and get the team building around him. 

19. Nicolas Latifi (+1)

Latifi continues to be overshadowed by his teammate with little fightback from the Canadian. He has yet to show me anything more than being a pay driver for this Williams team during his F1 career. The only reason he is 19th is because of how bad Mazipin’s weekend went. 

20. Nikita Mazipin (-1)

He was spinning all weekend as he struggled to find the balance in his car. He spun in Qualifying 1 to bring out the yellow flags, that caught out Vettel, to be easily beaten by his teammate. Following that he had one of the shortest F1 debuts in history as he lost control of the car on the exit of Turn 3 to go straight to the scene of the accident and the end of an unconvincing weekend to say the least.