Tag: Drivers

Spanish Grand Prix Driver Ratings

BARCELONA, SPAIN - JUNE 01: Race winner Oscar Piastri of Australia driving the (81) McLaren MCL39 Mercedes takes the chequered flag to cheers from his team on the pit wall during the F1 Grand Prix of Spain at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on June 01, 2025 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Sam Bagnall/Sutton Images)

The Spanish Grand Prix delivered a thrilling race filled with drama, strategy, and much controversy. Oscar Piastri led a McLaren one-two in the glorious sunshine, while Max Verstappen’s late-race antics stole most of the headlines. The fight at the front was relatively calm, with the two McLaren’s being slightly too quick for Max, while the Mercedes and Ferrari’s battled it out between themselves for the rest of the big points. Behind, there was some great action, in particular into Turn 1 and even some lovely moves around the outside at Turn 3. The safety car caused by Antonelli’s retirement caused even more drama: some good, some bad. Big shout out to Nico Hulkenberg for a fantastic 5th place after Verstappen’s penalty. A lot has already been said about his move, and all I can really add is – Are we really that surprised?

Oscar Piastri

Piastri continued his fantastic form this season, leading from pole and building a solid lead in the first stint. Despite a late safety car, he managed the restart perfectly and secured a comfortable victory. His calm and consistent driving under pressure is becoming a hallmark of his season.
Rating: 8.8

Lando Norris

Norris didn’t get the best start but eventually overtook Verstappen to secure second place. While he couldn’t close the gap to Piastri, his performance was solid and crucial for McLaren’s constructor championship lead.
Rating: 8.3

Charles Leclerc

Leclerc made the most of a late safety car to snatch third place. He was stuck behind his teammate early on, but once free, he capitalised on Verstappen and Red Bull’s mistakes to secure a podium finish.
Rating: 8.5

George Russell

Russell had a quiet race until the safety car restart, when he was the other half of Verstappen’s dodge-um attempt. While his initial move at Turn 1 was valid, Verstappen’s retaliation overshadowed Russell’s solid fourth-place finish.
Rating: 8.0

Nico Hulkenberg

Hulkenberg was the driver of the day, climbing from 15th to fifth with a series of impressive overtakes. His two-stop strategy and tire management were flawless, marking one of his best performances in years.
Rating: 9.3

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton struggled for pace throughout the race, dropping back after a strong start. He was overtaken by Hulkenberg late in the race, highlighting another challenging weekend for the seven-time champion.
Rating: 7.1

Isack Hadjar

Hadjar continued his impressive rookie season with another points finish. His consistency is keeping Racing Bulls in the midfield fight, and he’s quickly becoming rookie of the year.
Rating: 8.5

Pierre Gasly

Gasly had a positive weekend, qualifying in Q3 and finishing eighth. When the Alpine works, Gasly is a force in the midfield, and this race was a much-needed boost for the team.
Rating: 8.5

Fernando Alonso

Alonso finally scored points in 2025 after a series of retirements. His creative overtakes and determination were on full display, earning him a well-deserved ninth place at his home race.
Rating: 8.0

Max Verstappen

Verstappen’s race ended in controversy after a promising start. The three-stop strategy backfired with the late safety car, and his frustration boiled over with a deliberate collision with Russell. A ten-second penalty was lenient for such dangerous driving, I think other drivers get disqualified for that.
Rating: 1.0

Liam Lawson

Lawson had another solid weekend, narrowly missing out on points. He’s showing progress, which is crucial as he battles to establish himself in Racing Bulls and to extend his F1 career, which was faltering.
Rating: 7.8

Gabriel Bortoletto

Bortoletto was unlucky with the late safety car but showed promise throughout the race. He outqualified his teammate and was in the mix for points, marking a step forward.
Rating: 7.6

Yuki Tsunoda

Tsunoda had a weekend to forget, qualifying last and finishing 13th. His struggles highlighted Red Bull’s ongoing issues with their second seat.
Rating: 4.5

Carlos Sainz

Sainz endured a tough weekend, struggling for pace and finishing 15th. Williams’ track-specific issues were evident, and Sainz will be hoping for a better showing next time.
Rating: 5.1

Franco Colapinto

Colapinto had a quiet race, was knocked out in Q1 and finished 15th. It was a weekend to forget for the Argentinian driver.
Rating: 5.1

Esteban Ocon

Ocon was invisible for most of the race, finishing 16th. It was a disappointing weekend for the Frenchman.
Rating: 5.1

Ollie Bearman

Bearman outqualified his teammate but struggled in the race, finishing 17th. It was a tough weekend for Haas overall.
Rating: 5.4

Kimi Antonelli

Antonelli retired with an engine issue but showed promise earlier in the race. His qualifying performance was a highlight, but his season has stalled slightly with a few mistakes and reliability issues.
Rating: 7.4

Alex Albon

Albon had a weekend to forget, retiring after multiple collisions and penalties. His qualifying performance was the only positive.
Rating: 5.5

Lance Stroll

Stroll did not start the race due to wrist pain so I’m not going to score him. It feels harsh if you retire due to injury.
Rating: N/A

The Spanish Grand Prix showcased McLaren’s dominance and the unpredictability of Formula 1. With Piastri extending his championship lead and Verstappen’s antics under scrutiny, the season continues to deliver excitement. Next up, the Canadian Grand Prix promises more thrills and drama.

Bahrain Grand Prix Driver Ratings

There we go, that’s much better! The Bahrain Grand Prix extinguished any memories of last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix to put on a show in the desert; showcasing the best of Formula One.

Oscar Piastri made it look easy at the front with a commanding victory from pole position, however, behind him was pure entertainment. Several competing strategies meant a mixed up order throughout with overtaking all over the track, and a safety car to bunch the field, giving us action all the way to the end. Lando Norris managed to climb back up to third after a poor qualifying session. The Ferraris looked quick, and Lewis Hamilton appeared to be getting on top of his car, while the Red Bulls still seemed a step behind.

A shout-out to the rookies, in particular Ollie Bearman, who came from last to earn points—a great drive from the young Brit. There were solid performances all around; Antonelli had a great race even though he didn’t score any points, and so did Jack Doohan, but strategy decisions derailed their races.

Overall, it was a great race, exactly what we needed and a timely reinforcement for my next article on why Formula One should enforce each car to use all three dry tyre compounds per race. Look out for that shortly.

Right, into the ratings.

Oscar Piastri

Oscar dominated the weekend, securing a commanding victory from pole position. He led from start to finish, easing into the race during the first stint before pulling away in the second and third. The safety car briefly brought the pack closer, but Piastri remained untroubled, showing great speed and consistency.

8.8/10

George Russell

George Russell had another strong weekend, qualifying second but starting third due to a strange team penalty for instructing their drivers to leave the garage before the pit lane opened in Q2 after Ocon’s crash. He made a great start, taking second in the opening laps and holding his position throughout the race. His strategy of soft-medium-soft worked perfectly, and he held off Lando Norris in the closing stages to secure second place.

8.8/10

Lando Norris

Lando had a scruffy weekend in Bahrain which started in qualifying, leaving him sixth on the grid, and then a five-second penalty for being out of his grid box at the start cost him valuable time in the race. Despite this, he fought back to finish third, but more points dropped. In a tight title battle, he needs to be more consistent.

7.8/10

Charles Leclerc

The Monegasque driver outperformed his car, qualifying third and starting second after Russell’s penalty. Ferrari’s alternate strategy of starting on mediums saw him lose positions early, but he fought back with strong overtakes when he had the tyre advantage later on. A late switch to hards cost him some pace, but he held off Norris for a long time before finishing fourth.

8.2/10

Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champ had a better weekend, though qualifying remains an area he must improve upon, which is crazy to write. Starting ninth, he delivered a solid recovery drive, running medium-medium-hard, like his teammate. He showed strong pace in the middle stint, briefly climbing to fourth before settling for fifth. Progress with the car is evident, and he’ll look to build on this in Jeddah.


7.8/10

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen struggled with a twitchy Red Bull, qualifying seventh and finishing sixth. Brake issues hampered his ability to attack, and team operational problems in the pits cost him time. Despite these challenges, you’ve got to expect he extracted the most from his car, and did show great speed in bursts.


7.8/10

Pierre Gasly

Pierre was a standout performer in Bahrain, qualifying fifth and finishing seventh. He showed great pace throughout the weekend, battling with the top teams and narrowly losing out to Verstappen on the final lap. His consistency and aggression were impressive, making him my driver of the weekend.


9.1/10

Esteban Ocon

Ocon delivered a strong race, starting 14th after his Q2 shunt but finished seventh. An aggressive strategy of pitting early for fresh tires gave him a great undercut, and he maximized his pace in the Haas. This continues the team’s strong turnaround after a worrying start to the season in Australia.

8.5/10

Yuki Tsunoda

Yuki Tsunoda had a better weekend, qualifying tenth and finishing ninth. He was involved in battles throughout the race, including a collision with Carlos Sainz that ended the Ferrari driver’s race. Despite some setbacks, Tsunoda showed improved pace and consistency.

7.5/10

Ollie Bearman

Ollie Bearman was another star of the race, starting last after a poor qualifying but finishing tenth to score points. His overtakes and tyre management were exceptional, showcasing his potential as a rookie. This performance will boost his confidence moving forward.


8.9/10

Kimi Antonelli

Kimi Antonelli was another standout rookie, qualifying fifth and showing great pace throughout the race. Mercedes’ strategy cost him track position, but he fought back from 14th to finish 11th. His aggression and precision were impressive, even if he missed out on points.


8.1/10

Alex Albon

Alex Albon was unlucky to finish 12th after a strong race. He was on course for eighth before the safety car came out just after he pitted, dropping him down the order. Despite the setback, he showed good pace and made significant progress from 15th on the grid.


7.6/10

Nico Hulkenberg

Nico Hulkenberg finished 13th in what is likely the slowest car on the grid. He took advantage of the chaos and safety car to move up the order, but there’s little more he could have done given the car’s limitations.


8.2/10

Isack Hadjar

Hadjar had a tougher weekend, qualifying 12th and finishing 14th. A slow start and aggressive strategy didn’t pay off, and he struggled to keep up with the pack after the safety car. It was a decent performance but not up to his recent standard.


7.3/10

Jack Doohan

Jack was unfortunate to finish 15th after running in the points for much of the race. A poorly timed pit stop before the safety car cost him track position, but he showed good pace and progress after a slow and, accident heavy, start to his F1 career.


7.4/10

Fernando Alonso

Alonso had a quiet race, qualifying 13th and finishing 16th. Aston Martin’s struggles continued, and there was little Alonso could do to make an impact. They are quickly becoming the forgotten team in 2025.


7.1/10

Liam Lawson

Lawson finished 17th after a race filled with battles and penalties. A ten-second penalty for a collision with Bortoleto summed up a difficult weekend for the man from Auckland. He is being shown up by the other rookies and needs to put in a performance quickly, before Helmut Marko gets another bout of itchy fingers.

6.2/10

Lance Stroll

Lance Stroll qualified 19th and finished 18th, reflecting Aston Martin’s struggles. He was largely invisible during the race, and there’s little to say about his performance. Again, sums Aston Martin up at the moment.


3.5/10

Gabriel Bortoleto

Gabriel Bortoleto finished 19th after being involved in a collision with Lawson. He struggled to make an impression really and made up the backmarkers throughout the race.


5.5/10

Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz was unfortunate to retire after a collision with Tsunoda damaged his sidepod. He had a strong weekend, outqualifying his teammate and running in the points before the incident.


7.6/10

P.S.

Nico Hulkenberg was disqualified post-race for excessive plank wear, but his performance remains unchanged in the ratings.

1968 Part 2 – Wings, Sponsors and Helmets

1968 was a big year for turning points in F1 history – so big it needs two articles. Three innovations from 1968 would change the face (quite literally) of F1. Two were on-track and one off-track. Let’s start off-track.

Sponsors

Heading into the 1968 season, the oil companies BP and Shell decided to pull out of F1 at the same time as tyre supplier Firestone withdrew their free supply to F1 teams. This left F1 in serious financial trouble, so it decided to allow sponsorship for the first time. Previously the cars would run with no badging and would be in the national colours of the manufacturer, but sponsorship instantly changed the way F1 looked and was financed. The first team to run sponsors was the privately run Gunston team, who adorned the livery of their title sponsor – Gunston cigarettes – at the opening Grand Prix in South Africa. This was the only F1 race they would enter that year to promote their product to their largest market – showing instantly that F1 had already become more than a sport. The cigarette sponsorship would not stop there. 11 other cigarette companies would sponsor 22 F1 teams until they were banned in the mid-2000s. It wasn’t just tobacco that jumped in to sponsor F1 teams; fuel, oil, alcohol, tyre and even condom companies moved in as they saw the commercial value of these cars as moving billboards. The range of high-end brands that adorn the cars, race suits and team merch today help fund one of the most expensive sports in the world. Whatever you think of the corporate world that sponsors has created, without them, it’s very likely F1 wouldn’t be around today.

This introduction of sponsors immediately created one of the most iconic F1 liveries – the Gold Leaf Team Lotus car. In the wake of Jim Clarke’s death in April, Lotus and Colin Chapman turned up to the second race of the season in Spain with their car glistening in the famous red and gold. It was reported that this sponsorship raised £1.2 million for the team. This money was clearly well spent as at Monaco, they introduced the single most important development in the sport’s history: wings.

Wings

Before Monaco 1968, F1 cars relied solely on mechanical grip from the tyres to get around corners but this was about to change. Colin Chapman had been plotting this innovation for some time after being convinced that the effect an aeroplane wing has on a plane – to lift it into the air – could work in the opposite direction for an F1 car – to push it into the ground. He described its effect with my favourite F1 term – negative lift. The unique characteristics of the Monaco street circuit, being extremely tight and twisty meant it was the perfect place to try his new toy.

The Lotus 49B would have two small wings poking out each side of the front chassis with an aerofoil rear wing which was basically a large dinner tray attached to the rear engine structure. While they didn’t look like much, their unseen effect was massive. They worked by manipulating the air as they passed through it, creating a speed differentiation between the air passing over and under them, which in turn created a low-pressure area underneath the car. This low-pressure area produced a suction effect that pushed the car into the ground. This meant the tyres experienced a much higher load and a larger contact patch with the ground, producing much more grip. While these wings were very rudimentary by today’s standards, in 1968 they were revolutionary and very effective. Graham Hill took pole position and the win in the Lotus 49B’s first outing, and once again, F1 would never be the same.

By the time of the next race in Belgium, Ferrari and Brabham had gone one better, installing rear wings on struts high above the car, while Matra had installed a full-length front wing. They even added a high front wing on struts but that was only used in practice as it was quite hard to control. The teams would go back and forth throughout the year producing more and more sophisticated set ups and by the end of the year, most teams had installed wings on their cars. Wings have been used as the primary producer of downforce in F1 for decades, except for the ground effect years of the 1980s and now, from 2022 onwards. Negative lift, or downforce as we now know it (but I prefer negative lift), lay the foundations for F1 to separate itself from other engine-powered series in terms of performance.

The final innovation of 1968 was the introduction of full-face helmets for drivers. While it was essentially a safety measure it did drastically change the driver’s look. Going from looking like they were about to jump into a World War 2 bomber, to slick, futuristic astronauts. It symbolised F1’s continued technological evolution.

Dan Gurney was the instigator of this particular evolution, being the first driver to wear a full-faced helmet at the German Grand Prix. He had helped to invent it with the Bell Helmet Company, who still supply half of the F1 grid. Once Gurney wore one at the Nürburgring, other drivers followed suit and they became mandatory from 1970 onwards.

While some drivers had used their helmets to distinguish themselves while in the car before full face became the norm – Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart come to mind – this full face change gave drivers more freedom to show their individuality and they became a symbol of the driver. My favourite of this era was James Hunt’s, which had his name written in big letters on the side – just to leave no room for doubt.

Looking back at this, 1968 has an argument to be one of the most influential years in F1 history – if you think you know a year that tops this, let me know in the comments.

Until next time.

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

F1 Turning Points – The Le Mans Disaster

The next turning point in F1 history didn’t take place on track – not an F1 track at least.

Once Alfa Romeo dominated the 1950 championship, they split the next 3 with their Italian counterparts Ferrari. However, halfway through 1954 the F1 pecking order would be ripped up with the introduction of a new Constructor – Mercedes Benz.

Mercedes entered F1 at the 1954 French Grand Prix with the iconic W196, and they would go to take a 1-2 on their debut. They even had the audacity to steal the greatest driver of the era, Juan Manuel Fangio, from Maserati mid season to lead their attack. He had already won 2 races with Maserati at the start of the season and would go on to win 4 more with Mercedes, becoming the only driver to win a World Championship with different teams in the same season. A record that will never be broken now.

But this turning point isn’t about the 1954 season, or F1 at all really, but it would change the course of the sport forever. Mercedes started the 1955 season the way they ended the ’54 season, winning 2 out of the first 4 races, with the second coming at the Belgian Grand Prix in June. However, a week later, the motorsport world would be devastated by it’s worst tragedy.

During the 1955 running of the 24 hours of Le Mans road race, Jaguar driver Mike Hawthorn pulled over to the side of the track to go into the pits, braking as he did. In doing so, he cut across Lance Macklin’s Austin-Healey who in turn swerved to avoid. Catastrophically he swerved right into the path of Pierre Levegh’s Mercedes Benz 300 SLP, who was going around 125mph. Levegh’s car launched over the back of the Austin-Healey and straight into the spectator area by the side of the track, which was only protected by a grass verge. The impact with the ground caused the car to disintegrate and explode into flames. The impact threw Levegh from the car back onto the track and killed him instantly. The debris from the exploding car would kill 83 spectators and injure 180 more.

This disaster caused Mercedes to pull out of motorsport entirely, as they were only really in it for technological testing purposes, not for the love of competition. They didn’t see the point in risking lives for the sake of progress.

Mercedes would complete the 1955 season, winning the remaining 3 races – 2 for Fangio and one for Sterling Moss (remember him?) but that would be their last season until 2010.

The Silver Arrows’ dominance of F1 ended as quickly as it started, but what a run it was. The won 10 out of the 13 races they entered to blow the competition away. Something they would continue to do when they returned to F1 – winning 8 straight Constructors Championships from 2014-2021, but more on that in a later post.

How different would the history of F1 look if they had stayed? Would they be the most successful team over Ferrari if the Le Mans Disaster never happened? All these questions we will never have answers to but I think this quote from an article in Motorsport Magazine from December 1955 gives a hint of the feeling at the time.

“The complete withdrawal by Daimler-Benz is an unhappy thing for many of us, especially those interested in technical development, but, on the other hand, they had monopolised racing to such an extent that their withdrawal will at last allow someone else to win”

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- Saudi Arabia Edition

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (21 of 22)

1. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

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

2. Max Verstappen (-+)

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

3. Charles Leclerc (-+)

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

4. Lando Norris (-+)

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

5. Pierre Gasly (+1)

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

6. Carlos Sainz (-1)

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

7. Fernando Alonso (-+)

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

8. Esteban Ocon (+2)

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

9. Sergio Perez (-1)

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

10. George Russell (-1)

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

11. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

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

12. Valtteri Bottas (+1)

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

13. Lance Stroll (-1)

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

14. Sebastian Vettel (-+)

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

15. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)

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

16. Nicolas Latifi (+1)

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

17. Mick Schumacher (-1)

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

18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

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

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Qatar Edition

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

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

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

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

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

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

After Qatar Grand Prix (20 of 22)

1. Lewis Hamilton (+1)

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

2. Max Verstappen (-1)

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

3. Charles Leclerc (-+)

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

4. Lando Norris (-+)

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

5. Carlos Sainz (-+)

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

6. Pierre Gasly (-+)

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

7. Fernando Alonso (+2)

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

8. Sergio Perez (-1)

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

9. George Russell (-1)

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

10. Esteban Ocon (+3)

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

11. Daniel Ricciardo (-1)

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

12. Lance Stroll (+2)

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

13. Valtteri Bottas (-2)

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

14. Sebastian Vettel (-2)

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

15. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)

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

16. Mick Schumacher (+1)

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

17. Nicolas Latifi (-1)

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

18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

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

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – 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 – Mexico City Edition

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

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

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

After Mexican Grand Prix (18 of 22)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

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

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

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

3. Charles Leclerc (-+)

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

4. Lando Norris (-+)

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

5. Carlos Sainz (-+)

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

6. Pierre Gasly (+2)

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

7. Sergio Perez (-+)

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

8. George Russell (-2)

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

9. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

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

10. Fernando Alonso (-+)

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

11. Valtteri Bottas (+1)

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

12. Sebastian Vettel (+1)

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

13. Lance Stroll (-2)

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

14. Esteban Ocon (-+)

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

15. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)

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

16. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

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

17. Mick Schumacher (-+)

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

18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

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

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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