Tag: Drivers

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – USA Edition

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

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

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

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

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

After USA Grand Prix (17 of 22)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

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

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

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

3. Charles Leclerc (+1)

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

4. Lando Norris (-1)

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

5. Carlos Sainz (-+)

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

6. George Russell (-+)

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

7. Sergio Perez (+1)

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

8. Pierre Gasly (-1)

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

9. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

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

10. Fernando Alonso (-+)

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

11. Lance Stroll (-+)

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

12. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

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

13. Sebastian Vettel (+1)

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

14. Esteban Ocon (-1)

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

15. Yuki Tsunoda (+2)

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

16. Nicolas Latifi (-1)

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

17. Mick Schumacher (-1)

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

18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

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

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Turkey Edition

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

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

After Turkish Grand Prix (16 of 22)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

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

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

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

3. Lando Norris (-+)

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

4. Charles Leclerc (-+)

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

5. Carlos Sainz (+1)

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

6. George Russell (-1)

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

7. Pierre Gasly (-+)

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

8. Sergio Perez (+2)

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

9. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

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

10. Fernando Alonso (-+)

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

11. Lance Stroll (+1)

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

12. Valtteri Bottas (+2)

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

13. Esteban Ocon (-1)

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

14. Sebastian Vettel (-1)

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

15. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

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

16. Mick Schumacher (+1)

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

17. Yuki Tsunoda (-1)

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

18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

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

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Sochi Edition

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

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

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

After Russian Grand Prix (15 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

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

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

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

3. Lando Norris (-+)

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

4. Charles Leclerc (-+)

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

5. George Russell (+1)

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

6. Carlos Sainz (+1)

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

7. Pierre Gasly (-2)

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

8. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

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

9. Fernando Alonso (+1)

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

10. Sergio Perez (-+)

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

11. Esteban Ocon (-+)

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

12. Lance Stroll (-+)

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

13. Sebastian Vettel (-+)

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

14. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

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

15. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

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

16. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)

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

17. Mick Schumacher (-+)

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

18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

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

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Zandvoort Edition

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

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

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

After Dutch Grand Prix (13 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (+1)

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

2. Lewis Hamilton (-1)

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

3. Lando Norris (-+)

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

4. Charles Leclerc (-+)

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

5. Pierre Gasly (+3)

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

6. George Russell (+3)

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

7. Carlos Sainz (-1)

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

8. Sergio Perez (-3)

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

9. Fernando Alonso (-2)

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

10. Esteban Ocon (-+)

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

11. Sebastian Vettel (-+)

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

12. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

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

13. Lance Stroll (+1)

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

14. Nicolas Latifi (+3)

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

15. Yuki Tsunoda (-1)

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

16. Valtteri Bottas (+1)

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

17. Kimi Raikkonen (-2)

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

18. Mick Schumacher (-+)

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

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Hungary Edition

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

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

After Hungarian Grand Prix (11 of 23)

1. Lewis Hamilton (+1)

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

2. Max Verstappen (-1)

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

3. Lando Norris (-+)

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

4. Charles Leclerc (-+)

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

5. Sergio Perez (-+)

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

6. Carlos Sainz (-+)

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

7. Fernando Alonso (+1)

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

8. Pierre Gasly (-1)

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

9. George Russell (-+)

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

10. Esteban Ocon (+3)

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

11. Sebastian Vettel (-+)

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

12. Daniel Ricciardo (-2)

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

13. Yuki Tsunoda (+1)

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

14. Lance Stroll (-1)

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

15. Kimi Raikkonen (+1)

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

16. Valtteri Bottas (-1)

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

17. Nicolas Latifi (+2)

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

18. Mick Schumacher (-1)

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

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-1)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Britain Edition

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

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

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

After British Grand Prix (10 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

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

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

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

3. Lando Norris (-+)

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

4. Charles Leclerc (+1)

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

5. Sergio Perez (-1)

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

6. Carlos Sainz (+1)

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

7. Pierre Gasly (-1)

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

8. Fernando Alonso (-+)

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

9. George Russell (-+)

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

10. Daniel Ricciardo (+1)

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

11. Sebastian Vettel (-1)

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

12. Lance Stroll (-+)

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

13. Esteban Ocon (-+)

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

14. Yuki Tsunoda (+1)

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

15. Valtteri Bottas (-1)

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

16. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

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

17. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

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

18. Mick Schumacher (-+)

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

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Austria Edition

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

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

After Austrian Grand Prix (9 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

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

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

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

3. Lando Norris (-+)

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

4. Sergio Perez (-+)

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

5. Charles Leclerc (+1)

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

6. Pierre Gasly (-1)

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

7. Carlos Sainz (-+)

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

8. Fernando Alonso (+1)

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

9. George Russell (+2)

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

10. Sebastian Vettel (-2)

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

11. Daniel Ricciardo (+1)

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

12. Lance Stroll (-2)

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

13. Esteban Ocon (-+)

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

14. Valtteri Bottas (+1)

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

15. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)

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

16. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

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

17. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

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

18. Mick Schumacher (-+)

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

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Styria Edition

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

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

After Stryian Grand Prix (8 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

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

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

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

3. Lando Norris (+1)

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

4. Sergio Perez (-1)

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

5. Pierre Gasly (-+)

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

6. Charles Leclerc (-+)

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

7. Carlos Sainz (+1)

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

8. Sebastian Vettel (-1)

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

9. Fernando Alonso (-+)

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

10. Lance Stroll (-+)

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

11. George Russell (+2)

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

12. Daniel Ricciardo (-+)

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

13. Esteban Ocon (-2)

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

14. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

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

15. Yuki Tsunoda (+1)

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

16. Kimi Raikkonen (-1)

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

17. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)

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

18. Mick Schumacher (-+)

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

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Baku Edition

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

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

After Azerbaijan Grand Prix (6 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (-+)

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

2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)

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

3. Sergio Perez (+4)

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

4. Charles Leclerc (-+)

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

5. Pierre Gasly (+1)

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

6. Lando Norris (-3)

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

7. Carlos Sainz (-2)

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

8. Sebastian Vettel (+3)

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

9. Esteban Ocon (-+)

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

10. Lance Stroll (-2)

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

11. Fernando Alonso (+3)

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

12. Daniel Ricciardo (-2)

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

13. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

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

14. George Russell (-2)

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

15. Yuki Tsunoda (+3)

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

16. Valtteri Bottas (-1)

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

17. Antonio Giovinazzi (-1)

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

18. Mick Schumacher (-1)

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

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Monaco Edition

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

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

After Monaco Grand Prix (5 of 23)

1. Max Verstappen (+1)

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

2. Lewis Hamilton (-1)

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

3. Lando Norris (+1)

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

4. Charles Leclerc (-1)

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

5. Carlos Sainz (+4)

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

6. Pierre Gasly (+2)

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

7. Sergio Perez (-+)

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

8. Lance Stroll (-3)

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

9. Esteban Ocon (+1)

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

10. Daniel Ricciardo (-4)

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

11. Sebastian Vettel (+3)

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

12. George Russell (-+)

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

13. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)

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

14. Fernando Alonso (-3)

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

15. Valtteri Bottas (-+)

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

16. Antonio Giovinazzi (+2)

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

17. Mick Schumacher (-1)

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

18. Yuki Tsunoda (-1)

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

19. Nicolas Latifi (-+)

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

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

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