Category: Uncategorized

Norris asserts his authority on the Championship

SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA - JUNE 29: Race winner Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on June 29, 2025 in Spielberg, Austria. (Photo by Zak Mauger/LAT Images)

The Brazilian, sorry, the Sao Paulo Grand Prix had it all. Action, big championship implications, crashes, bad weather. It. Had. It. All. It made a great case for why traditional, purpose-built tracks are what makes F1 tick. The newly laid tarmac ate up the tyres, so strategy was back. The increment weather caused plenty of drama in the Sprint but the race lived up to it with plenty of overtaking, not just DRS trains, great drives and at the end, Lando Norris took control.

Lando Norris led from pole and ran a pretty uneventful race while chaos ensued behind him. Antonelli put in his best performance of the season, and Verstappen made the final step of the podium from the pit lane. The Ferraris had a nightmare once again while Bearman laid his cards on the table as their successor to Hamilton or Leclerc, depending on how the next year or so go.

It wasn’t all guns and roses though. Oscar Piastri’s bad run of form continued at the worst time of the season. He crashed in the Sprint and only came 5th in the race, taking the championship out of his control. He will have to turn things around fast to stop his teammate taking all the glory.

I feel sorry for Gabriel Bortoleto; he had the worst-case scenario for a first home race. He had an almighty crash in the Sprint and then crashed again on the first lap of the race. The home crowd on the main straight never got to see him drive past in full force.

I could write about this race for a long time, giving away all the details on the drivers before I get to the ratings, so lets dive into them now. Lets do it.

Lando Norris – 9.1

Lando has had a few weekends recently where you could say it’s his best overall career performance. Brazil is in that category, but I would say Mexico was better. Make no mistake, though, Lando dominated this weekend. Two pole positions, two wins, while seemingly not getting out of 4th gear. He didn’t disappear into the distance but did enough to take a commanding lead in the Championship. He was looking after his tyres while Max closed in late but showed he had pace in hand when he needed it. Its now his championship to win with 3 races and a sprint left.

Kimi Antonelli – 9.1

This was Antonelli’s best performance of his young career. He stuck it on the front row in both races, and despite the small collision at the restart where he could have left Piastri more space, he drove brilliantly. He did what he needed to do and held off a charging Max Verstappen at the end to take his first 2nd place. Only 1st left on the podium for Kimi.

Max Verstappen – 9.2

It shows the reputation Verstappen has that I thought he could have legitimately snatched this race if Red Bull hadn’t pitted him a second time. He got a bit lucky with the puncture that got him off the hards and onto the mediums, but Verstappen had to make quick progress, which he did. His ability to overtake, combined with his large shadow in the driver’s mirrors makes him almost unstoppable. It’s crazy to think this is only his 3rd-best performance in Brazil alone (see 2016 and 2024).

George Russell – 7.9

This was the first time that Russell was outperformed by his teammate this season. George was about a 1/4 second off Antonelli all weekend but as is usual, he went forward in the race from 6th on the grid. He tried defending from Verstappen for the podium but the Dutchman’s tyre advantage was too much for him.

Oscar Piastri – 7.2

Piastri is starting to fall apart. His composed, ice cold persona that he built over the first 15 races is cracking since Baku. He is making uncharacteristic mistakes and isn’t showing the pace to make up for them. He was unlucky in the Sprint on a slippery curb at Turn 2 and was squeezed at Turn 1 in the race, and picked up a 10 second penalty for his troubles. It was borderline but Piastri didn’t do enough under braking to really claim the space. He battled back to 5th but it’s not enough to stop his teammate’s charge.

Ollie Bearman – 8.7

Ollie has been outperforming his teammate for most of the season but the last two races he has got the big results to really highlight this. He started 8th and made up places with some lovely overtakes on Hadjar and Hulkenberg to solidify his place amongst the big boys. He finished 23 seconds ahead of Lawson in 7th, despite overtaking him with 14 laps to go. Very solid.

Liam Lawson – 8.3

Liam made the one-stop work to perfection. He had a train of 7 cars behind him as he crossed the line in 7th. He has been the better Racing Bull for he second half of the season which is testament to his mental fortitude after a gut-wrenching start.

Isack Hadjar – 8.1

Hadjar will be disappointed with 8th after starting on the 2nd row, and annoyed his teammate beat him on the ‘slower strategy’ but a solid performance for the young Frenchman as the Racing Bulls showed good pace in Brazil. His qualifying performances continue to stand out as well.

Nico Hulkenberg – 8.1

A return to the points for Hulk after a few tricky races, especially in Mexico where his car let him down big time. While his teammate had a nightmare, he salvaged some points and keeps Sauber in the fight for 6th in the constructors.

Pierre Gasly – 8.4

Something just switched in his Alpine in Brazil. Gasly was in the hunt from the get go. He qualified in the top 10 for the first time in forever and followed it up with a great performance to claim the final point. It won’t affect his or Alpine’s championship standings but a rare glimmer of hope for this season. The team just need to figure out why the car worked this weekend compared to the other 20 so far.

Alex Albon – 7.2

Albon finished in the DRS train, tantalisingly close to his first points since Italy! He qualified in 12th and wasn’t able to make up enough places into the points. It’s a stark contrast to the beginning of the season where Albon was scoring for fun. Luckily he and Williams have good buffers in both championships.

Esteban Ocon – 7.2

This feels like the best Ocon can do at the moment, his qualifying has been letting him down recently, making his weekends harder but, once again, he was thoroughly outperformed by his teammate. In the race proper at least, but that’s where the real points are.

Carlos Sainz – 6.9

A tricky weekend all round for Williams. Carlos barely got out of Q1 before and didn’t make much progress in the race. He was at the back of the aforementioned DRS train and finished 13th.

Fernando Alonso – 6.5

The final man in the a-aforementioned DRS train. He would have been dreaming of points starting in 11th but dropped back to finish 14th.

Franco Colapinto – 6.9

While his teammate’s car came alive in Brazil, Colapinto’s gave him more of the same unfortunately for the Argentinian. His Q1 exit streak continued but he did beat both Red Bulls so that’s something. He was holding onto the DRS train for 7th at the end, whereas he has had the habit of dropping off the back of the pack of late.

Lance Stroll – 6.5

Lance was unlucky as he dropped to the back on Lap 1 after a love tap from Yuki spun him round. From there, with potential damage he wasn’t able to make the places back up.

Yuki Tsunoda – 3.5

Another race where Yuki finishes last on the round. That’s the 3rd time this year! He was knocked out in Q1, knocked into Stroll, damaged his front wing, got a penalty, pitted 3 times and finished 11 seconds off the back. Ouch.

Lewis Hamilton – 3.5

A nightmare race, and weekend for Lewis. His qualifying woes continued, being knocked out in Q2. He got pushed out wide at the start to lose places and caught his wing on the back of Gasly’s Alpine. It removed itself from his Ferrari and got stuck underneath his car. This ripped up the important venturi tunnels on the floor to render his car undrivable. He waggled around the track until Lap 37 when the team retired the car. Super Ouch.

Charles Leclerc – 5.0

Charles was so unlucky to be caught up in the safety car restart incident. He left plenty of space on the outside line but got clobbered by a spinning Antonelli, which ripped off his tyre and drop his suspension on Lap 5. He did brilliantly to qualify 3rd but was in the right place at the wrong time. Double DNF for Ferrari.

Gabriel Bortoleto – 1.0

Now, you thought Tsunoda and the two Ferrari’s had bad weekends! At his first home race as an F1 driver, the wheels, figuratively and literally, came off.

He He had a proper crash in the Sprint, when it appeared he didn’t turn his DRS off before twitching to the left to make an overtake. He lost the rear end violently, hit the inside wall at Turn 1 before quickly finding the outside wall about 100 meters down the road to destroy all corners of his car. Thankfully, he was completely fine but his race wouldn’t improve his mood.

He was battling with Stroll into Turn 10, Bico de Pato, attempting something around the outside but Stroll drifted wide, Gabriel caught a wheel on the grass which spun him into the barriers. This ended his race on Lap 1. Uber Super Ouch.

Chinese Grand Prix Driver Ratings

F1’s first Sprint weekend of the year was by no means a classic. Still, McLaren will leave feeling pretty pleased with the way 2025 is shaping up as Oscar Piastri took a domination victory in China, leading home his teammate for an equally dominant 1-2 for the team in the main race. The Sprint was won in equally dominant fashion by Lewis Hamilton for Ferrari but Sunday turned into a disaster for the Scuderia as both cars were disqualified after post-race inspections.

While I will take into account the Sprint when picking my ratings, it’s the main race that really counts. I see the Sprint as equal to a qualifying session, it can help your score but isn’t going to define it. Lets get into it.

Oscar Piastri – 8.5

Oscar looked the quickest McLaren, and so the quickest car, pretty much all weekend apart from a few sectors in Quali but most importantly he was able to put the laps together when it counted, which Lando didn’t. Once Oscar defended Russell’s advances into Turn 1 and broke DRS to his teammate over the next lap or two, he wasn’t bothered again. This was a significant victory for the young Aussie, similar to Norris’ at Singapore last year. A mature, controlling drive from the front, to prove that they could do it. Finishing 2nd to Hamilton in the Sprint was a nice added extra, overtaking Verstappen late on to put that cherry on top.

Lando Norris – 7.1

A scruffy weekend for Lando as he got to grips with adapting his driving style to better suit the McLaren MCL39. He didn’t hook up the laps when needed in both qualifying sessions which left him out of ideal position. We are seeing Lando abandon final laps in Quali more regularly than the other top drivers, which will need to be remedied, those little mistakes can cost in a championship fight. He went backwards in the Sprint to finish 8th but came home with very solid points in 2nd for the main race, after nursing a brake issue late. Despite the scruffiness, 19 points is a good return.

George Russell – 7.9

Gorgeous George is living up to his name and driving beautifully at the moment. He has maximised his weekends so far in 2025. His final, front-row-securing lap in Quali was awesome (Lando take note) and set him up for his podium finish. He kept the McLarens honest throughout the race and even undercut Lando at the stops to take back 2nd. While he did lose it again soon after, he made sure that if the McLarens fell into problems, he would be the one to pick up the pieces, which very nearly happened.

Max Verstappen – 7.5

It’s hard to determine the outright speed of the Red Bull as his teammate is absolutely nowhere at the moment, but you have to assume that Max is pushing its performance as far as it can go. Which means that it is the 3rd fastest car in the field. So a 3rd and 4th place over the weekend for Max is essentially overachieving. He was really in no man’s land for most of the race. Not quick enough for the McLarens and George but fast enough to find his way past the Ferraris when needed. His highlight overtake of Leclerc around the outside of Turn 3 was simply lovely and his pace on the Hards will encourage Red Bull into Japan.

Esteban Ocon – 8.1

Ocon finds himself best of the rest after the Ferrari disqualification, in a fantastic 5th place. This was a really strong performance from the Frenchman, taking advantage of an optimised strategy with great pace on the hard tyre after pitting on Lap 11. His overtake on Antonelli into Turn 14 was really brave, putting half of his car on the grass and keeping his foot in. The adjustments Haas have made to their car have all been positive and Esteban took full advantage.

Kimi Antonelli – 7.3

Not quite as spectacular a performance as his debut in Aus, but another solid weekend. The performance gap between himself and Russell was 0.4 in quali which translated to around 40 seconds in the race but I think Kimi can be satisfied with that. No big mistakes and solid points again for 7th and 6th in the races, which is more than some of the other rookies. Another good foundational step for the young Italian.

Alex Albon – 7.5

Mr Reliable will be Albon’s new nickname I think. With 6 or 7 spots at the front accounted for through McLaren, Verstappen, Ferrari and the Mercedes, there are smaller points to fight for, for the likes of Williams, and Alex used his Williams well. Was comfortable with the medium wear in the first stint from 10th on the grid, and was consistent in the second to finish 9th on the road, which moved him up to 7th after the Ferraris DSQs.

Ollie Bearman – 7.7

Much better from Ollie in China! Which isn’t saying much after a disaster in Australia. After outqualifying his teammate for Sprint, he wasn’t able to get out of Q1 which we can put down to some rookie inconsistency and inexperience as others improved their setups in between the sessions. However, in the race he took advantage of the alternate strategy; starting on the hards and switching to the mediums and used his tyre advantage beautifully, setting multiple drivers up for lovely switchback moves at the Turn 14 hairpin to finish 10th and take his first points for Haas, which turned into even more once the DSQs were handed out. A great haul for Haas and a confidence booster for Bearman.

Lance Stroll – 7.1

Honestly, we didn’t see much of Stroll on TV this weekend but he did beat his teammate in both races! I know Alonso retired from one of them, but still! Stroll likes an alternate strategy and it worked for him in China. He gave the rest of the grid the green light to go to a 1 stop with his long stint on the hards and I did glimpse a nice lunge into the hairpin to overtake Lawson. Lance will take the points when he can get them in this Aston.

Carlos Sainz – 5.5

Sainz admitted himself that he was off the pace in China, and I agree with him. He is lucky to get his first point for Williams from the weekend and really only has the Ferraris, Alpine and Racing Bulls to thank. I say ‘only’ and then name a quarter of the grid, but DSQs and bad strategy gifted him this point. He never got close to Albon and the top half of any session. We will caulk it down to a learning weekend for the Spaniard.

Isack Hadjar – 7.4

Isack continued his strong start to 2025 (forget the incident we shall not mention last weekend), showing great pace throughout, even outqualifying Yuki to line up 7th! This Racing Bull is showing great speed, but it’s the strategy calls that are letting them down, and costing them points. Isack was on his way to them before the team called him in for a 2nd stop, which those around him didn’t take, saving them 25 seconds that Hadjar couldn’t claw back before the flag.

Liam Lawson – 3.2

Another struggle for Liam in China. This 2nd Red Bull is definitely the Bermuda Triangle at the moment but qualifying last in 2 of the three sessions so far this season is hard to explain away. His race pace wasn’t much to write home about either, he barely progressed in the race and only finished in front of Doohan and the two Saubers. This will be the last we see of Lawson in the Red Bull as the team has taken the extraordinary decision to replace him after two races, which even for them, this is pretty brutal. Lets see if Tsunoda can do any better.

Jack Doohan – 4.9

Another rookie that improved his performance in China, but was starting from a pretty low bar. Jack was more involved this weekend but still made up the bottom third of the pack. He out-qualified his teammate for the sprint but then went backwards over the weekend. He was the last driver on the lead lap at the chequered flag and got a slap on the wrist from the stewards for some late moves in defending from Hadjar, which was fair. Small progress, but with Colapinto waiting in the wings, and Red Bull setting the precedent, if Jack doesn’t improve quick, he could be the 2nd victim of 2025.

Gabriel Bortoleto – 6.7

A quiet but good weekend for Bortoleto. This weekend is unfortunately more a clear representation of the Sauber speed, likely the slowest car on the grid but Bortoleto completed THE objective, out-perform your teammate. He finished each session ahead of his more experienced and very fast teammate, despite a clumsy spin on the first lap which put him 10 seconds back from the pack.

Nico Hulkenberg – 5.2

A really quiet weekend from Hulkenberg. Never finished outside the bottom two runners across the competitive sessions. This is all I have to say! Beaten by his teammate consistently but I’m going to say that is more on Bortoleto doing a good job, than Nico doing a bad one.

Yuki Tsunoda – 7.9

Another weekend, another strategy call that cost Yuki points. He was driving beautifully and looking set to finish 6th before his team brought him in for a second stop, which everyone else decided against. This brought him out 16th and with lots of time to make up, and he was making some progress until his front wing failed, to add insult to injury, and forced him to pit for a 3rd time, ending the race in last. Yuki can take confidence though from these weekends, despite not collecting any points, and he is going to need it to tame the Red Bull he now finds himself in.

Fernando Alonso – 6.5

A very short race for Alonso in China, lasting only 4 laps before a fiery brake made him call it a day. He was in and around his teammate all weekend, both taking up positions at the fring of the points but not quite getting there, until the Ferrari’s were disqualified. That’s two DNFs in two to start 2025 for Fernando but neither were really his fault.

Charles Leclerc – 7.6

An interesting weekend for Charles, he was thoroughly outperformed by Hamilton in the Sprint section of the weekend but then thoroughly outperformed Hamilton in the race, despite knocking part of his front wing off on the first lap, after colliding with…Hamilton. These Ferraris are going to be entertaining this year. I don’t think Charles would have challenged for a podium, despite his claim of being held up by Lewis for a number of laps, as he faded towards the end and was overtaken by Verstappen. Its a moot point anyway, as his car was found to be underweight post race, which instantly disqualified him.

Lewis Hamilton – 7.8

The first half of the weekend was classic Lewis Hamilton. Out performed his car to stick it on pole, and then calmly led the race, managing his tyres masterfully before pulling away to make it look easy to win the Sprint. However, Ferrari made some set up changes for the race, to help with tyre wear but screwed with the car’s balance and Lewis’ performance dropped off dramatically. Never really being able to show strong pace in the race, he let Charles go and couldn’t hold onto him, finishing 6th on the road. Again, moot point though, as he was disqualified for excessive wear on his car’s plank, there to stop the cars running too low to the ground. A poor judgement mistake from the team, so absolutely no points for Ferrari in the main race in China.

Pierre Gasly -7.3

Pierre was also penalised for an underweight car in China. He didn’t lose anything but pride as he finished 11th on the road, for the second weekend in a row, which was good progress from his 16th place starting position. The car looks solid in parts in the hands of Gasly, who is pushing its limits which is back end of the points at the moment. He wasn’t quite able to get into them before his disqualification but he is proving himself as the clear team leader at Alpine, just needs a bit of luck.

1968 – Ford, Clarke and The Flying Scotsmen

1968 was a transition year for Formula 1 in many senses, and not always for good reason.

The Ford DFV

The year started with the wider implementation of arguably the greatest racing engine of all time – the Ford Double-Four Valve V8 – this iconic engine was conceived by Colin Chapman and Lotus F1, who had convinced Ford to develop it when 3-litre engines were introduced for 1966. It won on the first attempt at Zandvoort 1967 as Graham Hill stuck his Lotus 49 on pole, but when he retired with clutch issues, his teammate Jim Clarke came through the field to take the chequered flag in his stead.

Chapman had worked hard to get exclusivity of this engine for his Lotus team but Ford was worried their brand could be tarnished as the competition around them wasn’t strong enough; Ferrari’s engine was underpowered, the BRM was too complex, the Maserati unreliable and the Honda overweight. They wanted to instead supply to anyone who wanted one and dominate the whole of F1 rather than just one team.

They wanted to create a cheap engine – £7,500 in 1967 – competitive, light, compact and easy to run so that any team, big or small could screw it in and go racing.

So, they did. And Chapman wasn’t happy.

But Ford had made their decision and the Double-Four Valve V8 would go on to win 155 of the next 262 races from 1967 – 1985. The Ferrari was the only other engine that even made a dent. The Ford DFV would win every single race in 1969 and 1973. It became THE engine of F1 and gave Formula 1 teams the financial freedom to innovate and push the sport into the global player it is today. Without the DFV, F1 would look very different, despite Colin Chapman’s anger.

Jim Clark

While one F1 icon was just getting started, tragically the sport would lose another in 1968. Jim Clark was arguably the driver of the 1960s. Starting in 1960, he spent his whole F1 career with Lotus and won championships in ’63 & ’65 but it could have been so much more if his cars had been more reliable. Oil leaks in crucial races in 1962 & 1964 robbed Clark of two more titles but they weren’t isolated instances. There was a feeling in F1 at the time that if Clarke finished a race, he was winning it.

Clarke produced performances that even for F1, were extraordinary. In 1963, he won a rainy and foggy Belgian Grand Prix at Spa by over 5 minutes and lapped the whole field apart from Bruce McLaren in 2nd. Clarke holds the record for most grand slams in F1 history – taking pole, fastest lap, victory and leading every lap – doing it 8 times.

He would led 71.47% of the laps raced in 1963, which is another record. At the Italian Grand Prix of 1967, he started from pole and led the way until a puncture derailed his progress. He lost a lap while the wheel was changed and re-joined the race in 16th place. However, he would go on to drive back through the field, breaking the lap record on multiple occasions and even equalled his qualifying lap of 1.28.5. He regained the lap AND THE LEAD. Heading into the lap last he was narrowly leading John Surtees and Jack Brabham when his car started fluttering. It hadn’t been filled up with enough fuel. He would coast over the line in 3rd but that performance speaks for itself. He was the class of the field, even against F1 legends.

Clarke didn’t just race in F1 during his career either. He was the first non-American Indianapolis winner in 50 years when he conquered the brickyard in 1965 as the first mid-engined victor, becoming the only driver to win the F1 title and the 500 in the same year. He also raced in British saloon cars, Le Mans, American open-wheel, the Australasian Tasman series (winning it in 1965, 1967 and 1968) and F2, which would be his tragic downfall.

On 7th April 1968, Jim Clarke took part in an F2 event at Hockenheim, Germany during the 4-month gap between the first and second F1 races of the season. On the fifth lap of the race, Clarke’s Lotus veered off the track and smashed into the trees that lined the track. He suffered horrific injuries and died before he reached hospital. The exact reason for the crash has never been determined but it’s thought that it was caused by a punctured rear tyre.

His fellow drivers refused to believe that the crash was caused by driver error because they didn’t believe Clarke was capable of making a mistake like that. Clarke’s driving style was so smooth that he took care of the cars he drove – Jackie Stewart remembers “He was so smooth, he was so clean, he drove with such finesse. He never bullied a racing car, he caressed it into doing things he wanted it to do” Clarke’s tyres would last 4 races and his brake pads would last 3 times longer than other drivers. This made it even harder for people to accept that his cars didn’t take care of him.

In the wake of Jim Clarke’s death, the F1 community was devastated – it had lost its talisman, its best driver and more importantly, a friend. Colin Chapman said he lost his best friend that day – many F1 drivers were in his close circle, including his compatriot Jackie Stewart. In a tragic turn of fate on that afternoon in Germany, F1 lost its talisman, but his successor was waiting in the wings.

The Flying Scotsman

Stewart had been following in Clarke’s footsteps throughout his junior career and reached F1 in 1964 as Clarke was taking over. He had some success during his early years, winning 2 races in his first 2 years in F1. However, things changed in 1968. Stewart had been driving for Ken Tyrell’s racing outfit in the lower formula but switched to Owen Racing to gain an F1 seat. He would reunite with Tyrell, joining the Ken Tyrell-run Matra team. This partnership would turn out to be one of the most successful in F1 history. He would win his first title in 1969 for Matra International and made the switch to the full Tyrell team in 1970 for its inaugural season. He would win two championships in the French Racing Blue of The Elf Tyrell team in 1971 and 1973. He retired immediately before taking part in his 100th F1 race after the death of his teammate and friend Francois Cevert in practise at Watkins Glen. This was the last straw in a career where he lost too many friends to sub-standard safety in the sport. These losses, including his great friend Jim, would motivate Stewart to campaign for improved safety during and after his career, changing the way the sport is run forever. He retired with the record for most wins at 27.

“I would have been a much more popular World Champion if I had always said what people wanted to hear. I might have been dead, but definitely more popular”

Sir Jackie Stewart

The Horse Starts Pushing the Cart

For as long as cars had been racing each other, be it up hills, around airfields or streets, their engines had been in front of the driver. That was just how it worked. Enzo Ferrari summed it up beautifully when he said “The horse shouldn’t push the cart with its nose, it pulls it” but this all changed in 1958. Formula 1 is all about innovation and before long someone had come up with a better solution. This solution would change not just F1, but all of motorsport.

This great innovation wasn’t thought up by one of the big boys in a factory but by father-son duo Charles and John Cooper. They had started making racing cars from their garage in Surbiton, Surrey in 1946, entered F1 in 1950 at the Monaco Grand Prix and by the mid 1950s, they had built up a considerable reputation for building fast cars.

So when Jack Brabham turned up to the 1957 Monaco Grand Prix and finished 6th in a Cooper T43 Climax with the engine positioned behind him, the F1 community took note. However, it wasn’t until the first two races of 1958 when they would realise that they had a revolution on their hands. Sterling Moss would win the Argentinian Grand Prix in a privately run rear-engined Cooper T43 on a controversial no strategy but when Maurice Trintignant won the next race in Monaco at a canter in the exact same car, the cat was out of the bag and F1 would never be the same.

What the Coopers realised was rear-engined cars pushed the majority of weight to the middle so the cars were less susceptible to spinning, easier to control and more effective at transferring traction into the road. They found time by giving the driver more confidence to push, and rewarded them with more grip when they did.

Despite Enzo Ferrari’s stubbornness, over the next couple years the rest of the grid would transition to rear-engined cars and the final victory for a front-engined car would come at the Italian Grand Prix of 1959 at Monza. It was won by Ferrari, but not by coincidence, after the race organisers changed the track layout to include the famous banking, the bumpy surface suiting the rear-engined car much more favourably.

Jack Brabham would go on to win the Driver’s Championship in 1959 and 1960 for Cooper, becoming the first rear-engined Champion. Since then, every other driver and constructor to win the F1 championship has won with the horse pushing them by its nose.

P.S. – An extra fun fact to leave you with – John Cooper is the naming inspiration for one of the most famous cars in history – The Mini Cooper, which he helped to conceive.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Abu Dhabi Edition

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

Sorry if this feels like too late to post about this now but I needed time to fully digest, reflect and settle on my feelings towards the final race of 2021. What a season its been and writing about it has given me a different way to experience and understand Formula 1. Thank you for being on the journey with me during my first season of writing things down, whoever or wherever you are and I hope it has, at the very least, given you something to pass the time.

It was never going to end smoothly, this season’s story wasn’t going to go out with a whimper. As you expect, I have my own opinion on the events in Abu Dhabi but I will get to that. Firstly, congratulations to Max Verstappen on winning his first World Championship. He does deserve to win the title this year, make no mistake about that. He has been mighty; consistant, brave, precise, decisive, resilient but most importantly really, really quick. He has shown that he can handle anything a title fight can throw at him. This was not a Mercedes vs Red Bull battle, the teams were evenly matched and evenly powerful, both having their advantages. This was a Hamilton vs Verstappen battle. Both drivers elevated themselves and pushed each other to a level I don’t think I have seen in my life. They dominated this championship completely and Max came out on top in the end.

The final 10 minutes of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 will live in the annuls of Formula 1 history forever. However, to understand my feelings towards the outcome, you need to look at the whole race. This was a championship decider on a level F1 has only seen one other time. No matter what had happened previously, the championship would be decided by who crossed the finish line at the end of the 58th lap first: Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton. As with this season’s form, the two title rivals locked out the front row, but it was not on equal ground. The Red Bulls would both be starting the race on the soft tyre compared to the medium on the Mercedes. This was caused by Max Verstappen locking up in Q2 and flat spotting his medium set. The start reminded me of Abu Dhabi 2014 when Hamilton nailed the launch from 2nd to take the lead against Rosberg. This took away Red Bull’s tactical advantage of using the soft tyres to build a gap. You knew Max was going to try something straight away if he was overtaken at the start and he dutifully obliged at Turn 6 with a big lunge down the inside but one that I think Lewis left the space open to attack. Lewis turned in, was blocked by the Red Bull’s presence on the inside and drove over the run off area to get back on track. This is the first point of controversy. Hamilton keeps the position by going off track but he was forced there by a late lunge from Verstappen. This is also the first case of inconsistency from race control. In the final four races there have been two incidents of Verstappen perceivingly forcing both or one of the drivers off of the road, when defending the position but he received two different decisions – a penalty and a pass. This is why I think the decision there really could have gone either way depending on how the stewards felt at that time and in this race they were more relaxed because they felt that when Hamilton rejoined the track he established the previous gap between himself and Verstappen. Hamilton then worked to build an 8 second gap before shadowing Red Bull’s pitstop onto the hards on Lap 14 and 15 respectively. The gap was now stretching out towards 10 seconds before Sergio Perez did some great defensive driving to hold up Hamilton and close the gap to Verstappen to only 1.3 seconds. His driving was borderline slow but fine, he just made his car nice and wide. Once they dispatched the Mexican, Hamilton once again built a lead of around 8 seconds to Verstappen on the hards until Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo packed up and brought out the Virtual Safety Car. Mercedes decided to stay out and keep track position but Red Bull pitted Max for a new set of hards. This put Max 18 seconds back with just over 20 laps left to go. He needed 0.8 seconds a lap to catch back up. At the time, I thought Mercedes should have pitted Hamilton to give him the tyre advantage on a day where he was the quickest package out there, but after the initial chase of Verstappen the pace advantage the Dutchman had started to diminish as Hamilton kept his old hard tyres in condition while maintaining the lap time. The laps started to count down quicker than the gap until Hamilton held a 12 second lead with 5 laps to go. This is where the root of all my feelings lie – without Nicolas Latifi crashing at Turn 14, bringing out the Safety Car, Lewis Hamilton would have deservedly won the title decider, and therefore the title. Everything that transpired after that contradicts what I know deep down in my soul to be true – Hamilton deserved to win the race and, because of that fact, he deserved to win the F1 World Championship as well. I am not taking anything away from Max Verstappen, he deserved to the win title as well, but he did not deserve to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. That is the wonderful contradiction of our sport; every single race matters in a championship but, sometimes, the last one means that little bit more.

Once the Safety Car came out it swung things back into Red Bull’s hands if the race were to restart. They pitted Verstappen in clear air for soft tyres while Mercedes couldn’t risk pitting and losing track position that late on with the possibility of the race not restarting. This pitted Lewis’s worn hards against Max’s new softs, not a completely done deal but a very large advantage. Now, to the second instance of race control inconsistency with a bit of confusion chucked in. As Latifi’s car was on the racing line and required marshals and a recovery vehicle, a Safety Car was warranted, no problem there. While I was marching around the house, muttering to myself like a madman, the safety car did it’s thing of slowing down the leaders and collecting the rest of the pack but the real sticking point would lie with the 4 lapped drivers in between Hamilton and Verstappen. Initially, they were told that they would not be allowed to overtake the safety car to unlap themselves which felt unusual but there is confusion over if that was just while the Latifi car was being removed. Following this, there must have been a couple minutes of frantic brokering from the Red Bull and Mercedes pitwalls to Race Control about if the race should restart and lapped cars etc etc. (I agree with Ross Brawn that this communication should not happen anymore) Race Control then instructed the lapped teams on the back straight, on Lap 57 of 58, that the 4 cars could now unlap themselves but also that the safety car was ending that lap. I have suffered through enough seemingly unnecessary extra final laps under the Safety Car in my life to know that this is a part of the Sporting Regulations and Michael Masi even confirmed that at last year’s Eiffel Grand Prix. This felt like Race Control wanting to get the action underway because it was the title decider. In any other race when the ‘cars unlapping’ rule has been in force, the cars have gone round one more time once the lapped cars have passed. Don’t get me started that not all the lapped cars were allowed to overtake. Is the championship points battle the only one that matters? Once again, if the cars had gone that extra lap and finished under the Safety Car, Hamilton would be Champion. I know, I realise that this conveniently gives me the result I support, but its the sudden change from normality that is hard to accept. But accept it we must. I would not want the decision to be changed in court and Michael Masi didn’t do anything directly against the rules so there is no real argument, its just the way it went down stings deep for the Hamilton camp. For Max Verstappen fans, this Safety Car and the subsequent overtake for the title were levelling of the score for bad luck on the Dutchman’s side earlier in the year and that it’s just the way she goes. Whatever side you sit on, at least we all agree that this season has been a privilege to watch and we are lucky to have witnessed it. It truly was the season the hybrid era needed before we go into another regulation change where it could all change once again, which I can’t wait for. That will be explained further in another post.

In non championship affairs, Carlos Sainz finished his strong first season at Ferrari with a podium and took fifth place in the Driver’s Championship above Norris and Leclerc. Yuki Tsunoda saved his best result to last and Kimi finished his career with a DNF. I’ll elaborate in the rankings so lets get into it.

After Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (22 of 22)

1. Max Verstappen (+1)

Max Verstappen is World Champion and I am sure it won’t be his last. He has driven brilliantly all year, despite some moments I disagree with him on, and didn’t back down to the challenge of battling Hamilton. The weekend was building nicely after being on the backfoot in practice and he took a surprise pole by over a quarter of a second. Once the race got going though, it seemed he didn’t have an answer to the pace of Hamilton and needed the intervention of others to help. He got this and then took his opportunity when it came, that’s what champions do.

2. Lewis Hamilton (-1)

What a heartbreaking way to lose a championship. Lewis Hamilton has had to suffer through a few of those in his career but this will probably feel the worst. He will be back next year, despite all the rumour, he is too much of a competitor to leave this fight with that outcome. He did everything in his control to win the championship in Abu Dhabi which should be a silver lining when the emotions die down, he still has the speed to go and try to win it again.

Carlos Sainz (+3)

This isn’t just last race bias, Carlos’ season has been bubbling away, showing consistant pace compared to his highly rated teammate throughout, whilst transitioning into one of the hottest seats in F1 better than other drivers changing teams with year. Abu Dhabi was the icing on the cake after a series of weekends that showed promise at times but didn’t come together. He qualified as the lead Ferrari in fifth which was quickly converted to fourth at the start as he flew back Norris into Turn 6. He was there to capitalise on the unreliability of Perez’s Red Bull to claim his third podium of the season and fifth in the Driver’s Championship, which is essentially best of the rest after the two championship teams. This gives him great momentum into the winter with a new set of regulations coming that Ferrari are banking on getting them back in the mix. Binotto is already talking about contract extensions which I think has been deserved and more.

4. Charles Leclerc (-1)

Charles was unfortunately another example of a Ferrari driver taking an early pitstop in an Abu Dhabi title decider and coming to regret it, frustrated in traffic. This time, the consequences were less severe but a tenth place did lose Leclerc his inter and intra team championship battles to drop from fifth to seventh. He just didn’t have the pace to get past the traffic to be in no mans land by the late safety car. He used that to collect one point but it wasn’t enough in the end.

5. Lando Norris (-1)

Lando can not catch a break at the moment. He was looking good for fifth before he had to pit late because of another slow puncture. This took away fifth in the championship for the young brit who really stamped his place in the F1 world this year. His consistent pace rewarded him with 20 points scoring finishes including four podiums and a whole lot of respect from fans worldwide. His final qualifying lap for third on the grid was a thing of beauty after being more towards the bottom end of the top 10 throughout the session. Its just another instance of Norris’ talent shining through the crowd.

6. Pierre Gasly (-1)

Pierre deserves to be in this group of elite youngsters making their way to the front of the F1 grid. He has been outstanding this season in the Alpha Tauri. He missed out on Q3 while his teammate made it and used the late safety car to move up to fifth for what must be the team’s best result of the season. Can Alpha Tauri give him the platform he needs to challenge for titles? I’m not so sure unless these regulations really do mix it up.

7. Sergio Perez (+2)

Sergio was the more effective teammate when it came down to it as he was able to get in the way and hold up Hamilton which would be crucial for giving Verstappen a chance to overtake later. Without losing the 8 seconds behind Perez, Hamilton would be have been able to pit after Latifi crashed and not lose position to Max. He hasn’t been able to get near Max at times but that is not what Red Bull really want from Perez, they want exactly what they got in Abu Dhabi, good teamwork to help Max win. Unfortunately, I don’t think he has the pace to beat Verstappen in a straight fight so that is what Red Bull is going to get.

8. Fernando Alonso (-1)

I think we can class Fernando’s return to F1 as a success. Another double points scoring finish in Abu Dhabi for Alpine with Alonso in front. His highlight being his first podium since 2014 in Qatar. I think if the car is half decent next year, Alonso could be dangerous, he is still one of the fastest out there.

9. Esteban Ocon (-1)

Despite a victory in Hungary, Esteban was beaten by his teammate in his first year back. However, as mentioned with the victory, it was a year of progress for Ocon and Alpine. He really looked strong the last couple of races but doesn’t quite get into that group of elite young drivers.

10. George Russell (-+)

Finally George can move over to Mercedes after a great three year stint at Williams, where he made that team relevant again. His Williams career unfortunately fizzled out with a retirement in Abu Dhabi but George’s career is about to rocket to another level in 2022.

11. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

An overall disappointing year for Daniel as he got used to the 2021 McLaren but he did get back on the top step of the podium in Italy for the only 1-2 of the season. He never broke into the top 10 because he was just not consistant enough, he disappeared for large chunks of the year.

12. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

The final example of why Valtteri Bottas is no longer a Mercedes driver played out in Abu Dhabi. When Mercedes needed him, like Red Bull needed Perez, he failed to deliver, qualifying sixth and then was miles back in the race, leaving his teammate to be outnumbered without help. It feels like Mercedes tried not to hurt Valtteri’s feelings with their tactics in Abu Dhabi and it may have cost them. When it is all said and done, Bottas just wasn’t quite good enough in most areas, apart from in Austria and Russia.

13. Yuki Tsunoda (+2)

Yuki saved his best until last with a great fourth place finish and leading his teammate all weekend. This drive could well be a turning point for Tsunoda, both in his confidence and reputation within the paddock. His overtake on Bottas on the final alp was brilliant, he was so late on the brakes but there was no lockup or drama and he made the apex beautifully. It’s a shame the season ended for him, as he probably would have liked another race around Abu Dhabi. He just needs to do that every weekend to get on terms with his teammate. No mean feat.

14. Sebastian Vettel (-1)

Vettel and Aston Martin finished in Abu Dhabi where they have in the championship, it felt about right for them this year, in eleventh and thirteenth respectively. Vettel showed glimpses of past glory with some nice performances but this was mainly getting used to a new team so we will see what next year brings.

15. Lance Stroll (-2)

Similar to his teammate, it wasn’t a vintage year for Stroll and Aston Martin. He put in some good performances but the usual mistakes do haunt Stroll – as in Hungary – that stunt his growth up the grid with his team.

16. Mick Schumacher (+1)

A year where Mick Schumacher somehow increased his reputation within the paddock despite driving the slowest car on the grid by some margin and having a semi-amateur teammate. He will be Ferrari’s reserve driver in 2022 which I’m sure will only help his chances of a future seat. It does only feel like a matter of time before he is in a red seat if Mick keeps the performances up. My highlight for Mick was his Quali performance in Turkey where he outqualified his teammate by 2.5 seconds. Even in a crap car, that is mightily impressive.

17. Nicolas Latifi (-1)

Unfortunately, Latifi will forever be known for his role in the final laps of the season and the hate and abuse he has got online is completely unacceptable. Yes, you can be angry with what happened, but that gives you no right to send some of the abuse that Nicolas has received since. Did he do it on purpose? Obviously not. Will the abuse change the result? Obviously not, so lets just be kind to people. Something needs to be done about social media. Overall, a more promising year for Latifi where he scored points on multiple occasions and did push Russell at some events, even breaking the Brit’s long run of beating Williams’ teammates in Quali.

18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

We say goodbye to the Iceman and I am sure he is happy about that. It was a shame he didn’t have the car to impress late on in his career but he will leave a mark on the sport no other driver has so far. He was loved by everyone for being 100% himself throughout and being one of the most naturally gifted drivers of all time. Ice Man Out.

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

Kimi’s teammate’s F1 career also fizzled out as he also retired in Abu Dhabi. He just wasn’t consistent enough and blew most of his big points scoring chances with mistakes or team strategy error. While Binotto has suggested Ferrari will try and find him a seat for 2023, I think this is the last we will see of Gio in an F1 race seat.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Mazipin also raced this year but most of his action came with the issuing of blue flags, he saw 256 of them in 2021, 60 more than his teammate.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Sao Paolo Edition

Welcome to the nineteenth edition of my F1 driver POWER rankings list. Sorry this is late again, my bad but life has got in the way. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition after the Mexican Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here.

I essentially said that the Sao Paola Grand Prix would be a must win for Hamilton to keep his title hopes on track and boy did he go above and beyond to do that. This was another classic, drama filled championship weekend at the atmospheric fishbowl that is the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in the neighbourhood of Interlagos. There is so much to unpack from the Sao Paolo weekend which was the host of the third and final Sprint format of the year and each one of those weekend has had significant championship moments. Without the extra racing session, it would have been even harder for Hamilton to finish ahead of Max. The drama ensued before the weekend started when Mercedes announced that Hamilton would be taking a 5 place grid penalty for an extra Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), already putting him on the back foot. The drama continued on Friday after Hamilton had taken a commanding pole position when the FIA, after a tip off by Red Bull, investigated the DRS activation elements of Hamilton’s rear wing. The regulations state that when activated, the gap in the rear wing must be between 10mm and 85mm when a force of 10N (newtons) is imposed on it. The inner section of Hamilton’s wing failed this test and he was subsequently disqualified from qualifying. The FIA did state that this was a part failure and not a deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations to create an advantage.

This took away Hamilton’s good work and the opportunity to take maximum points from the weekend. What he did do was remind us what the best can do with the tools given to them. He went from 20th to 5th in 24 Sprint laps to give himself a chance in the feature race but that earlier 5 place penalty set him back to 10th. His overtaking was tidy and decisive but for me the part of Hamilton’s game that is above the rest is his ability to drive both quickly and kindly to his tyres. I think this allows him to have these sustained fight backs through the field, compared to when Valtteri fights back, he does seem to fall off or get caught behind cars in the dirty air. Hamilton is able to stay in the dirty air and still be able to use the advantage his car gives, that’s another difference between great and the best.

Hamilton may have saved his best work for Sunday however. We knew he would be able to get past the first five cars in front but it was when he got to the Red Bulls when the real work would start. He got a small helping hand from the Safety Car as it put him onto the back of his rivals after Yuki Tsonoda came together with Lance Stroll and spewed carbon fibre at Turn 1. Once the Safety Car came in, Hamilton set after Perez and had to overtake him twice around the outside of Turn 1 as the Mexican returned the favour at Turn 4 after the first attempt. Once all the other drivers had been dispatched, it was just Verstappen left to catch and he had 52 laps to do it. He slowly whittled down the Dutchman’s 3.8 second lead but was unable to get close enough to attempt a pass until Lap 48 when the title rivals had another flash point. Hamilton had DRS on the main straight up the hill into Turn 1 and for the first time in my memory, a dummy from Lewis got Max moving in the braking zone and put him slightly off line through the Senna S section of 1/2/3 and Hamilton picked up DRS again into Turn 4. Max defended the inside line and Hamilton got ahead into the braking zone on the outside. Both braked as late as they could but Max definitely braked too late, pushing him wide and off the track. With Hamilton on the outside, memories of Austria 2016 surfaced when Rosberg refused to turn into the corner and the teammates collided (Rosberg got a penalty that day *cough cough*). Luckily this time, they didn’t touch but Hamilton was unable to take the corner as he appeared to have the ability to do so without Max being in the way. Inexplicitly, the stewards didn’t investigate the incident after not seeing much wrong, without a crucial bit of evidence – Max Verstappen’s onboard camera. The onboard showed, for me, that Max could have made more of an attempt to make the corner – there wasn’t a lockup indicating excessive braking, and he didn’t put as much steering angle as previous laps when logic dictates that he should have been inputting more steering angle if he was truly trying to take the corner. I have to say that he did force another driver off the track, which has definitely been penalised this year quite regularly with a 5 second time penalty, and would have put him behind Bottas and lost him 3 valuable points. Now, it is very easy to say that post race but its very hard to say that Bottas would still have finished within 5 seconds if Max had been penalised in-race. Actually, I am pretty sure he wouldn’t have, no way Max would have let that happen. So its all a bit of a mute point for me but I do think the stewards are less likely to penalize Max Verstappen because of this notion he is a ‘hard racer’ and the challenger to the ‘Empire’. There I said it. All that matters for Hamilton is that he gained that crucial momentum and reduced the gap to Verstappen before it’s too late while producing a performance that will live long in the memory.

Behind the title fight, Ferrari once again had a great weekend in the constructors, taking a 32 point lead over McLaren for third, Gasly had another impressive weekend for Alpha Tauri and Alpine got two drivers in the points for the first time in a while to draw level them level with Alpha Tauri once again. Ok, lets get into the rankings.

After Sao Paolo Grand Prix (19 of 22)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

Max keeps the lead on this list but it is a close thing with the momentum swinging towards Mercedes with this new found engine advantage that they have found. Verstappen did everything that was required of him in Brazil and probably got the maximum he would have expected going into the weekend apart from probably three points and pole position for Sunday. He was cheeky on Lap 48 and I am sure he knew what he was doing when he went wide and I am also sure he doesn’t think that warranted a penalty as well. He defended hard against an opponent he was fighting a losing battle to keep behind so can’t blame him for trying. He moves on to Qatar hoping the track suits his car more and he can regain that momentum.

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

This was definitely up there with one of Hamilton’s best drives in a Mercedes. He had to overcome 25 places worth of penalties over two races – 20 of them after having taken pole position on Friday so to overcome that and perform as he did in Saturday’s Sprint shows both his physical ability and mental strength. Hamilton was decisive and accurate with his car placement in the Sprint to take pretty much every opportunity and finished only 2 seconds back from Sainz in third. This set him up nicely for the race, starting in tenth, to be able to get through the midfield without losing too much time to the leaders. He dispatched of said midfield very quickly (see pass on Gasly on Lap 1) and then performed two great overtakes to get past the Red Bulls. This drive showcased lots of Hamilton’s traits that have made him a 7 time world champion: speed, consistency, relentlessness, overtaking, tyre preservation to name a few. Brazil was exactly what the doctor ordered for Hamilton and Mercedes in this title fight. On to Qatar.

3. Charles Leclerc (-+)

These sort of weekends are now expected for this Ferrari package in this ever evolving development race. When I say ‘these sorts of weekends’ I mean a double points finish while threatening the fun of the championship teams. This is of course not where Ferrari feel they belong but this is very encouraging signs for the team. Charles’ teammate beat him in the Sprint but Charles took honours when more points were on offer. Charles dropped back one spot from his 6th place from qualifying but got ahead of his teammate again and Lando Norris at the start of the race proper and didn’t really look back. He has had a couple of boring but impressive races in a row now so not much to report apart from some great first lap car placement and bravery to get himself into position to score highly in 5th.

4. Lando Norris (-+)

It was looking like Lando Norris had put together a really nice Sprint weekend, after ‘qualifying’ 7th he got ahead of Gasly and Leclerc in the Sprint to gain 5th place on the grid for the race on Sunday. He got a good start and was getting past the slow starting Sainz for third but misjudged his positioning, he must have thought he was already past the Ferrari, and moved over too early, contact was made between tyres and Lando came off worse with a left rear puncture. The beautifully crafted weekend was shattered in an instant. He dropped waaaay back but an early Safety Car put him on the back of the pack and he started his fight back. Solid pace and some good overtakes got him a reward – a singular point but it was well deserved. Annoyingly it should have been many more.

5. Carlos Sainz (-+)

It was Carlos’ turn to be the car that was interfering in the front runners race during the Sprint on Saturday as he used his red soft tyres to move up from 5th to 3rd but he was unable to hold on to that advantage and podium spot. He crossed the line 6th behind his teammate which will be a disappointment for him. This is just another weekend showing of how strong a driver Sainz is. He needs to be given lots of credit for his overall Ferrari performance this year, he really hasn’t missed a beat and has helped push this team back forward.

6. Pierre Gasly (-+)

There are only so many times I can say what a strong weekend Gasly has had without sounding like a broken record but I am going to say it again. Qualifying 4th in Brazil was the 16th time in 19 races he has qualified in Q3 which is a phenomenal record for the Alpha Tauri driver. Unfortunately he lost places in the Sprint and race to finish 7th at the flag but once again brought home much needed points in their fight with Alpine in the Constructors. They are still tied for 5th thanks to him after he passed both of their rival cars in the closing laps.

7. Sergio Perez (-+)

Sergio was around but never really in the fight for the win in Sao Paolo. He qualified 3rd but got caught behind Sainz’s Ferrari for the entirety of the Sprint and did his best when Hamilton came up behind in the race but wasn’t quick enough to keep him behind. He shouldn’t feel too bad, no one was in Brazil. He was able to get ahead of the Ferrari’s and the midfield to collect decent points for the team in 4th in what was seen as damage limitation in response to Mercedes’ new found speed.

8. George Russell (-+)

George keeps his place in 8th mainly through sheer will power from me and the juicy potential he brings to next years Mercedes line-up. I am adamant he will be a step up from Valtteri Bottas so it is hard to put an up and coming star in potentially the best car anywhere lower than 10th. He is also still quietly getting the job done and finishing in front of faster cars in the race, this time Giovinazzi and Tsunoda. He is battling cars but it is clear this Williams is a step off. He finished 13th in Brazil for those wondering.

9. Fernando Alonso (+1)

A dogged performance for Alonso in Brazil where he was eventually rewarded with a singular point. He qualified 9th but was caught out in the Sprint by those around him starting on the red soft tyre compared to his yellow medium. He could have easily not finished the Sprint but narrowly avoided being sandwiched by the Alfa Romeo’s before they came together themselves. He dropped back to twelfth for the race proper but battled back into the points to help Alpine remain level with Alpha Tauri in the Constructors.

10. Daniel Ricciardo (-1)

Ricciardo was close to Norris on one lap pace; they were separated by less than a tenth in qualifying and lined up 7th and 8th for the Sprint but when it came to racing, Daniel was a step behind. To make things worse, he dropped out of the race on Lap 49 with power loss caused by a crack in his chassis. Monza is starting to feel quite a long time ago now.

11. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

Valtteri did the team job in Brazil but didn’t do it very well. He got ahead of Verstappen at the start of the Sprint and secured pole position to at least take one point from Max. However, he was beaten into Turn 1 in classic Bottas style by Max and then went wide at Turn 4 to let Perez through. He at least let Hamilton past without any problems and got back ahead of Perez because of a cheap stop during the virtual safety car to make the podium and help close the gap in the Constructors.

12. Sebastian Vettel (-+)

Another weekend where Sebastian was the best Aston Martin but not exactly a rewarding one as he was always just behind the points. He qualified 11th and got up to 9th for the grid due to Hamilton’s grid penalty but then dropped out of the points again by the flag, getting pipped at the last by a recovered Norris.

13. Esteban Ocon (+1)

A return to the points for Esteban Ocon in Brazil as he beat his teammate in qualifying and the race to lead the lead the team home in 8th. After disappearing in Mexico he was in the action in Brazil and took advantage of the virtual safety car to go for the one stop strategy and used it to great effect. I am sure we wished he could have kept Gasly home but the tyre advantage was too much to defend against.

14. Lance Stroll (-+)

Lance had a bit of a nightmare in Sao Paolo. He was knocked out in Q1 and then started next to Yuki Tsunoda in the race which would not end well when Yuki went for an audacious effort at Turn 1. This would cause Lance a lot of damage which would end his race on Lap 47 but would also effect the overall race as some body work came flying off, bringing out the virtual safety car.

15. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)

A pretty shocking performance from Yuki as his rookie season doesn’t get any better. He did show some one lap pace once again to nearly get into Q3 but once the racing got going, he looked lost. He was barking up the wrong tree with his complaints at Stroll for his part in the Lap 5 incident as Yuki went for a lunge that was a day late and a dollar short, breaking his front wing and causing a Safety Car. That was all the action Yuki would see on Sunday.

16. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

Another driver waiting for the year to end and the hopeful possibility of a better car next year with the regulation changes. He was in no man’s land for most of the weekend, trying to hang on to the end of battles but not quite joining them. Nowhere near the points.

17. Mick Schumacher (-+)

After Mick mentioned that he hoped he could have more on-track action with Kimi Raikkonen, he probably didn’t mean to get as close as he did, causing his front wing to break off and pour even more debris over the track. He was nowhere after that after losing over a minute coming back to the pits.

18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

Kimi had quite the ordeal in Sao Paolo, first getting spun in the Sprint by his teammate, but that could be seen as a racing incident as Kimi could have left more room on the inside of Turn 1. He then made the aforementioned contact with Mick Schumacher but that wasn’t his fault as Mick oversteered into him and came out worse. He tried a late pitstop but it didn’t help get him into the points, finishing 12th.

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

It has finally been announced that Giovinazzi will be replaced by Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou for 2022 to partner Valtteri Bottas. It has been a strange and unfulfilling ride watching him in F1 since he first arrived in 2017, so I can’t imagine what it has been like for him, probably even more unfulfilling. He has shown speed and put together great performances but they have been too few and far between for him to keep his seat. I think it is the right decision, Zhou deserves a seat.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

Nikita Mazipin finished behind his teammate in both qualifying sessions but took advantage of Schumacher’s mistakes to take a point in their intra-team battle but he must be quite far behind anyway.

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Austria Edition

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

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

After Austrian Grand Prix (9 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

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

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

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

3. Lando Norris (-+)

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

4. Sergio Perez (-+)

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

5. Charles Leclerc (+1)

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

6. Pierre Gasly (-1)

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

7. Carlos Sainz (-+)

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

8. Fernando Alonso (+1)

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

9. George Russell (+2)

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

10. Sebastian Vettel (-2)

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

11. Daniel Ricciardo (+1)

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

12. Lance Stroll (-2)

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

13. Esteban Ocon (-+)

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

14. Valtteri Bottas (+1)

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

15. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)

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

16. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

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

17. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

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

18. Mick Schumacher (-+)

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

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Styria Edition

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

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

After Stryian Grand Prix (8 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

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

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

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

3. Lando Norris (+1)

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

4. Sergio Perez (-1)

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

5. Pierre Gasly (-+)

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

6. Charles Leclerc (-+)

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

7. Carlos Sainz (+1)

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

8. Sebastian Vettel (-1)

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

9. Fernando Alonso (-+)

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

10. Lance Stroll (-+)

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

11. George Russell (+2)

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

12. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

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

13. Esteban Ocon (-2)

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

14. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

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

15. Yuki Tsunoda (+1)

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

16. Kimi Raikkonen (-1)

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

17. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

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

18. Mick Schumacher (-+)

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

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Monaco Edition

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

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

After Monaco Grand Prix (5 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (+1)

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

2. Lewis Hamilton (-1)

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

3. Lando Norris (+1)

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

4. Charles Leclerc (-1)

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

5. Carlos Sainz (+4)

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

6. Pierre Gasly (+2)

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

7. Sergio Perez (-+)

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

8. Lance Stroll (-3)

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

9. Esteban Ocon (+1)

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

10. Daniel Ricciardo (-4)

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

11. Sebastian Vettel (+3)

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

12. George Russell (-+)

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

13. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

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

14. Fernando Alonso (-3)

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

15. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

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

16. Antonio Giovinazzi (+2)

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

17. Mick Schumacher (-1)

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

18. Yuki Tsunoda (-1)

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

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

Free Practice 1

Hello and welcome to The Perfect Formula – An F1 blog. I’m thrilled you are joining me on this journey. To introduce myself, I am a 26-year-old lifelong F1 fan from England, and this blog is a place for me to share my thoughts, test my writing skills, and begin to engage with a community in which I haven’t really dipped my toes before. While I have watched and followed F1 religiously for at least 20 years, I haven’t had anyone to speak to about it apart from my Dad. Please bear with me as I get to grips with this writing malarkey, but I hope that I can both inform and entertain you!

My family’s link with the automotive industry came from my grandfather, who worked for British Leyland as an engineer in the UK, and then took his talents to Sri Lanka as an advisor where Leyland’s buses were – and currently still are – being used as the country’s public transport. I have personally taken one of these buses in Sri Lanka, and can confirm that their drivers most definitely share an F1 driver mentality. The precision, coordination and speed are a beauty to watch as they travel around Colombo and its sister cities. Some of my favourite early memories are of being woken up at 4:50am by my dad – after struggling to sleep all night from excitement – to watch the Australian Grand Prix on ITV and going downstairs to find the TV on and a cup of tea next to my seat ready for Murray Walker to call “5 lights and its GO GO GO’’. Here, in this sacred space, I got to experience another side to my dad that I had never seen before – the first time I ever heard him swear was when Felipe Massa spun Lewis Hamilton around at Fuji Speedway in 2008, and then watched as he shed a tear a couple of weeks later when Hamilton won it all in the most dramatic season finale in any sport, ever. F1 is one of the ways we have always been able to express ourselves to each other, a common language, something we will always share and never get bored talking about. F1 has given us father-son time, something I never fully appreciated until I moved away and soon realised not everyone is as interested in my F1 theories as him. It also means for Dad, he no longer has a majority vote over watching sport at home. Sorry, Dad.

The two races that we’ve attended together were the 2009 British and 2019 Italian Grand Prix. They were two of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. Spending both Fridays walking the tracks, taking in the atmosphere of the two legendary circuits and just trying to absorb as much F1 as possible. For me, Fridays were the best days; that was where you really saw F1 Tifosi. My dad would be taking pictures of anything that caught his eye; a Damon Hill cap on a confused Dane, a Schumacher tattoo on the shoulder of an unsuspecting Italian lady, a fan hanging from a tree to get a better look at the track or a group of quite-drunk Dutchmen decked out in Red Bull gear. He would always stop to have a short chat to find the story behind the picture. The best part was that the supporters would always be more than happy to have their photo taken with their piece of F1 memorabilia and tell their story of F1 fandom to my dad, a complete stranger. We all have one thing in common, a love for F1. No rivalry, just passion. I immediately felt both at home and in awe of these hallowed places. Dad was right when he said that these events truly are a celebration of F1. The Saturdays and Sundays were spent watching the action from Luffield (the old last corner at Silverstone) and the Rettifilo (the first corner at Monza) as Sebastian Vettel drove away in his Red Bull and Charles Leclerc delivered Ferrari its first home win in 9 years respectively. These two experiences culminated with us  joining in with the famous Italian Grand Prix pit-straight invasion, especially after a Ferrari win, something that even a lifelong McLaren fan knew was special. It’s hard for me to put it into words – despite the waffling above – what those days meant to me. All I can say is that they will never be forgotten. For them, I am eternally grateful.

Our team is McLaren. I don’t know why Dad started to support them, maybe James Hunt winning the 1976 World Championship did it, but I was indoctrinated from birth into Ron Dennis’ ‘grey machine’ with my first hero being Mika Hakkinen in the late 90s, who took on Schumacher and beat him twice. The mantle was then passed to ‘The Ice Man’ Kimi Raikkonen, who should have won a championship with the team in 2005, if not for unreliability (I’m not bitter, I swear). He was fantastically fast as soon as he stepped foot in an F1 car and deserved more from his McLaren years. Then along came Lewis Hamilton. I feel my F1 life is split into two parts: pre-Lewis Hamilton and then the Lewis Hamilton era.

To have an up-and-coming British star in my favourite team felt too good to be true and kept feeling so until a fateful couple of weeks in China and Brazil ‘07, but we will not be going into that any further – if you know, you know. I have been brought to tears only twice in my sport watching life, and Brazil ‘07 and ‘08 are those times but for polar opposite emotions. The Hamilton and Jenson Button years from 2010-2012 felt like the next step in this British super-team, but it didn’t quite work out the way I hoped. The car was good but never quite on par with the leading Red Bull of the day. This, coupled with bad strategy, mistakes, and pitlane mishaps, meant that the dream was over by the end of 2012, and Lewis decided to move to Mercedes. Unlike Kimi, who moved to ‘The Red Team’ as my father puts it, we have been able to watch from afar with happiness as Lewis has become the best driver of his generation. The next 4 years for McLaren were a struggle to watch as this once great team rather quickly fell to its knees. The McLaren Honda partnership did not work out as hoped, with the previous arch-enemy Fernando Alonso returning. Something I was not happy about as it felt like there was always too much pressure for results right away, and it became the Alonso show. I still feel the effects of the 2007 season when thinking of Fernando – super quick, but too much negative baggage. He ‘retired’ in 2018, and I was overjoyed. While he is still a world-class driver, the fit/timing wasn’t right, and I think Alonso’s impatience to return to the front hampered the development of the McLaren Honda partnership. It felt like a weight was lifted when he left.

The 2019 season brought a new era of McLaren; two new drivers in Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz, and a new management structure put together by Zac Brown and led by Andreas Seidl. While I did not fall out of love with McLaren during the lean years,  I have experienced success and failure with the team – and I pick success every time. It is not just about results, though; this McLaren iteration feels different. It feels organised, coordinated, and unified. I have been really impressed with Seidl since he joined, and the return of the Mercedes engine feels like the last piece of the puzzle for McLaren to get back to the front of the grid. Now that 8-time Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo is on board, I’m excited to see what the future holds for McLaren.

My love of Formula 1 is not just based on the McLaren team; however, I am an F1 fan. Everything about this sport excites me; the speed, the technology, the innovation, the competition, the politics, the personalities, the history – to name a few. What impresses me about Formula 1 is the excellence. Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport, the World Cup of motorsport – it just happens every year. There is no international league system like football. There are only 10 teams and 20 cars in F1. In every single department, F1 has the best that the world has to offer. The late, great Chris Wesseling of NFL.com and the ‘Around the NFL’ Podcast summed it up best when he said:

“If I was going to hire a sportswriter, the first question that I would ask him is: How do you reconcile the essential meaningless in sports? How do you reconcile watching young men bang into each other and try and advance an inflated pigskin against marked territory? How do you reconcile the importance of that? Just like Shakespeare or Beethoven’s symphony, this is going above and beyond. At its best sport is – look at what humans can do.”

While this quote is about American Football, to me, it perfectly sums up what makes F1 great. We get to test how far the boundaries of human mental, physical, and team effort can be pushed every single day, week, month, and year. It is like watching a rocket ship head for Mars every single weekend.

There is one thing that I like about this sport more than anything, and one that I think puts it above the rest; the strive for perfection. Yet, perfection is never going to happen. It’s an impossible dream. You may wonder why I have called my blog ‘The Perfect Formula’ when I have just said that perfect is impossible to achieve. Well, this is why: In no other sport is perfection attempted to this highest degree of detail; in no other sport is it so unashamedly pushing towards perfection in all aspects of its existence; in no other sport does it have teams of 1,000 employees, 80,000 different components per car, budgets upwards of £600 million per year (now capped at £150 million), and yet the two most high-profile employees – the drivers – are openly and directly competing against each other. In no other sport is your teammate your primary competitor and your only real benchmark of performance as you are the only two with equal equipment. No team has ever reached ‘perfection’; the joint closest was the 1988 McLaren and 2016 Mercedes teams. The 2016 Mercedes won 19 of 20 races, and in the only one they didn’t it was because the two drivers took each other out. They had perfection within reach, but the driver’s selfishness – and bid for personal glory – scuppered that. It is the largest organised team sport in the world, but one which is also at constant war with itself.

So what is the Perfect Formula? For me, the perfect formula is the car, the driver, and the team. There are formulas within those, but the above is its simplest form. Each part of the formula has to be working in unison and performing at its highest level in order to finish, let alone win. The driver needs to drive the car to its maximum consistently, while the car needs to be able to give the driver enough confidence and reliability to reach that level. The team needs to provide the car and make the correct strategic decisions to get the driver and car home in the quickest way possible. In a sport where every millisecond counts, this is easy to get wrong. Only when all three elements are in harmony will a team have the chance to succeed in F1. If one component doesn’t work, the other two have no chance. Absolutely, no chance. Only one car can win each race, and only one car can win each championship. The rest lose. In a sport where there is only one objective, to reach the chequered flag first, only 14% of drivers in history have ticked that illustrious box.

Formula 1 has taught me many lessons that I have been able to take on to certain degrees of success. It has taught me that attention to detail and small changes can lead to greater success, to never give in until you see that chequered flag, that teamwork always outscores individual effort, and to strive for perfection. I am not going to tell you which ones I have been more successful at, but with this blog, that is what I am going to do; strive for perfection. I will never get there, but in true F1 fashion – I will give it my best shot.

Speak soon.

JL

Thank you to NQ, for always knowing which way the words go.