Welcome to the nineteenth edition of my F1 driver POWER rankings list. Sorry this is late again, my bad but life has got in the way. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition after the Mexican Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here.
I essentially said that the Sao Paola Grand Prix would be a must win for Hamilton to keep his title hopes on track and boy did he go above and beyond to do that. This was another classic, drama filled championship weekend at the atmospheric fishbowl that is the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in the neighbourhood of Interlagos. There is so much to unpack from the Sao Paolo weekend which was the host of the third and final Sprint format of the year and each one of those weekend has had significant championship moments. Without the extra racing session, it would have been even harder for Hamilton to finish ahead of Max. The drama ensued before the weekend started when Mercedes announced that Hamilton would be taking a 5 place grid penalty for an extra Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), already putting him on the back foot. The drama continued on Friday after Hamilton had taken a commanding pole position when the FIA, after a tip off by Red Bull, investigated the DRS activation elements of Hamilton’s rear wing. The regulations state that when activated, the gap in the rear wing must be between 10mm and 85mm when a force of 10N (newtons) is imposed on it. The inner section of Hamilton’s wing failed this test and he was subsequently disqualified from qualifying. The FIA did state that this was a part failure and not a deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations to create an advantage.
This took away Hamilton’s good work and the opportunity to take maximum points from the weekend. What he did do was remind us what the best can do with the tools given to them. He went from 20th to 5th in 24 Sprint laps to give himself a chance in the feature race but that earlier 5 place penalty set him back to 10th. His overtaking was tidy and decisive but for me the part of Hamilton’s game that is above the rest is his ability to drive both quickly and kindly to his tyres. I think this allows him to have these sustained fight backs through the field, compared to when Valtteri fights back, he does seem to fall off or get caught behind cars in the dirty air. Hamilton is able to stay in the dirty air and still be able to use the advantage his car gives, that’s another difference between great and the best.
Hamilton may have saved his best work for Sunday however. We knew he would be able to get past the first five cars in front but it was when he got to the Red Bulls when the real work would start. He got a small helping hand from the Safety Car as it put him onto the back of his rivals after Yuki Tsonoda came together with Lance Stroll and spewed carbon fibre at Turn 1. Once the Safety Car came in, Hamilton set after Perez and had to overtake him twice around the outside of Turn 1 as the Mexican returned the favour at Turn 4 after the first attempt. Once all the other drivers had been dispatched, it was just Verstappen left to catch and he had 52 laps to do it. He slowly whittled down the Dutchman’s 3.8 second lead but was unable to get close enough to attempt a pass until Lap 48 when the title rivals had another flash point. Hamilton had DRS on the main straight up the hill into Turn 1 and for the first time in my memory, a dummy from Lewis got Max moving in the braking zone and put him slightly off line through the Senna S section of 1/2/3 and Hamilton picked up DRS again into Turn 4. Max defended the inside line and Hamilton got ahead into the braking zone on the outside. Both braked as late as they could but Max definitely braked too late, pushing him wide and off the track. With Hamilton on the outside, memories of Austria 2016 surfaced when Rosberg refused to turn into the corner and the teammates collided (Rosberg got a penalty that day *cough cough*). Luckily this time, they didn’t touch but Hamilton was unable to take the corner as he appeared to have the ability to do so without Max being in the way. Inexplicitly, the stewards didn’t investigate the incident after not seeing much wrong, without a crucial bit of evidence – Max Verstappen’s onboard camera. The onboard showed, for me, that Max could have made more of an attempt to make the corner – there wasn’t a lockup indicating excessive braking, and he didn’t put as much steering angle as previous laps when logic dictates that he should have been inputting more steering angle if he was truly trying to take the corner. I have to say that he did force another driver off the track, which has definitely been penalised this year quite regularly with a 5 second time penalty, and would have put him behind Bottas and lost him 3 valuable points. Now, it is very easy to say that post race but its very hard to say that Bottas would still have finished within 5 seconds if Max had been penalised in-race. Actually, I am pretty sure he wouldn’t have, no way Max would have let that happen. So its all a bit of a mute point for me but I do think the stewards are less likely to penalize Max Verstappen because of this notion he is a ‘hard racer’ and the challenger to the ‘Empire’. There I said it. All that matters for Hamilton is that he gained that crucial momentum and reduced the gap to Verstappen before it’s too late while producing a performance that will live long in the memory.
Behind the title fight, Ferrari once again had a great weekend in the constructors, taking a 32 point lead over McLaren for third, Gasly had another impressive weekend for Alpha Tauri and Alpine got two drivers in the points for the first time in a while to draw level them level with Alpha Tauri once again. Ok, lets get into the rankings.
After Sao Paolo Grand Prix (19 of 22)
1. Max Verstappen (-+)
Max keeps the lead on this list but it is a close thing with the momentum swinging towards Mercedes with this new found engine advantage that they have found. Verstappen did everything that was required of him in Brazil and probably got the maximum he would have expected going into the weekend apart from probably three points and pole position for Sunday. He was cheeky on Lap 48 and I am sure he knew what he was doing when he went wide and I am also sure he doesn’t think that warranted a penalty as well. He defended hard against an opponent he was fighting a losing battle to keep behind so can’t blame him for trying. He moves on to Qatar hoping the track suits his car more and he can regain that momentum.
2. Lewis Hamilton (-+)
This was definitely up there with one of Hamilton’s best drives in a Mercedes. He had to overcome 25 places worth of penalties over two races – 20 of them after having taken pole position on Friday so to overcome that and perform as he did in Saturday’s Sprint shows both his physical ability and mental strength. Hamilton was decisive and accurate with his car placement in the Sprint to take pretty much every opportunity and finished only 2 seconds back from Sainz in third. This set him up nicely for the race, starting in tenth, to be able to get through the midfield without losing too much time to the leaders. He dispatched of said midfield very quickly (see pass on Gasly on Lap 1) and then performed two great overtakes to get past the Red Bulls. This drive showcased lots of Hamilton’s traits that have made him a 7 time world champion: speed, consistency, relentlessness, overtaking, tyre preservation to name a few. Brazil was exactly what the doctor ordered for Hamilton and Mercedes in this title fight. On to Qatar.
3. Charles Leclerc (-+)
These sort of weekends are now expected for this Ferrari package in this ever evolving development race. When I say ‘these sorts of weekends’ I mean a double points finish while threatening the fun of the championship teams. This is of course not where Ferrari feel they belong but this is very encouraging signs for the team. Charles’ teammate beat him in the Sprint but Charles took honours when more points were on offer. Charles dropped back one spot from his 6th place from qualifying but got ahead of his teammate again and Lando Norris at the start of the race proper and didn’t really look back. He has had a couple of boring but impressive races in a row now so not much to report apart from some great first lap car placement and bravery to get himself into position to score highly in 5th.
4. Lando Norris (-+)
It was looking like Lando Norris had put together a really nice Sprint weekend, after ‘qualifying’ 7th he got ahead of Gasly and Leclerc in the Sprint to gain 5th place on the grid for the race on Sunday. He got a good start and was getting past the slow starting Sainz for third but misjudged his positioning, he must have thought he was already past the Ferrari, and moved over too early, contact was made between tyres and Lando came off worse with a left rear puncture. The beautifully crafted weekend was shattered in an instant. He dropped waaaay back but an early Safety Car put him on the back of the pack and he started his fight back. Solid pace and some good overtakes got him a reward – a singular point but it was well deserved. Annoyingly it should have been many more.
5. Carlos Sainz (-+)
It was Carlos’ turn to be the car that was interfering in the front runners race during the Sprint on Saturday as he used his red soft tyres to move up from 5th to 3rd but he was unable to hold on to that advantage and podium spot. He crossed the line 6th behind his teammate which will be a disappointment for him. This is just another weekend showing of how strong a driver Sainz is. He needs to be given lots of credit for his overall Ferrari performance this year, he really hasn’t missed a beat and has helped push this team back forward.
6. Pierre Gasly (-+)
There are only so many times I can say what a strong weekend Gasly has had without sounding like a broken record but I am going to say it again. Qualifying 4th in Brazil was the 16th time in 19 races he has qualified in Q3 which is a phenomenal record for the Alpha Tauri driver. Unfortunately he lost places in the Sprint and race to finish 7th at the flag but once again brought home much needed points in their fight with Alpine in the Constructors. They are still tied for 5th thanks to him after he passed both of their rival cars in the closing laps.
7. Sergio Perez (-+)
Sergio was around but never really in the fight for the win in Sao Paolo. He qualified 3rd but got caught behind Sainz’s Ferrari for the entirety of the Sprint and did his best when Hamilton came up behind in the race but wasn’t quick enough to keep him behind. He shouldn’t feel too bad, no one was in Brazil. He was able to get ahead of the Ferrari’s and the midfield to collect decent points for the team in 4th in what was seen as damage limitation in response to Mercedes’ new found speed.
8. George Russell (-+)
George keeps his place in 8th mainly through sheer will power from me and the juicy potential he brings to next years Mercedes line-up. I am adamant he will be a step up from Valtteri Bottas so it is hard to put an up and coming star in potentially the best car anywhere lower than 10th. He is also still quietly getting the job done and finishing in front of faster cars in the race, this time Giovinazzi and Tsunoda. He is battling cars but it is clear this Williams is a step off. He finished 13th in Brazil for those wondering.
9. Fernando Alonso (+1)
A dogged performance for Alonso in Brazil where he was eventually rewarded with a singular point. He qualified 9th but was caught out in the Sprint by those around him starting on the red soft tyre compared to his yellow medium. He could have easily not finished the Sprint but narrowly avoided being sandwiched by the Alfa Romeo’s before they came together themselves. He dropped back to twelfth for the race proper but battled back into the points to help Alpine remain level with Alpha Tauri in the Constructors.
10. Daniel Ricciardo (-1)
Ricciardo was close to Norris on one lap pace; they were separated by less than a tenth in qualifying and lined up 7th and 8th for the Sprint but when it came to racing, Daniel was a step behind. To make things worse, he dropped out of the race on Lap 49 with power loss caused by a crack in his chassis. Monza is starting to feel quite a long time ago now.
11. Valtteri Bottas (-+)
Valtteri did the team job in Brazil but didn’t do it very well. He got ahead of Verstappen at the start of the Sprint and secured pole position to at least take one point from Max. However, he was beaten into Turn 1 in classic Bottas style by Max and then went wide at Turn 4 to let Perez through. He at least let Hamilton past without any problems and got back ahead of Perez because of a cheap stop during the virtual safety car to make the podium and help close the gap in the Constructors.
12. Sebastian Vettel (-+)
Another weekend where Sebastian was the best Aston Martin but not exactly a rewarding one as he was always just behind the points. He qualified 11th and got up to 9th for the grid due to Hamilton’s grid penalty but then dropped out of the points again by the flag, getting pipped at the last by a recovered Norris.
13. Esteban Ocon (+1)
A return to the points for Esteban Ocon in Brazil as he beat his teammate in qualifying and the race to lead the lead the team home in 8th. After disappearing in Mexico he was in the action in Brazil and took advantage of the virtual safety car to go for the one stop strategy and used it to great effect. I am sure we wished he could have kept Gasly home but the tyre advantage was too much to defend against.
14. Lance Stroll (-+)
Lance had a bit of a nightmare in Sao Paolo. He was knocked out in Q1 and then started next to Yuki Tsunoda in the race which would not end well when Yuki went for an audacious effort at Turn 1. This would cause Lance a lot of damage which would end his race on Lap 47 but would also effect the overall race as some body work came flying off, bringing out the virtual safety car.
15. Yuki Tsunoda (-+)
A pretty shocking performance from Yuki as his rookie season doesn’t get any better. He did show some one lap pace once again to nearly get into Q3 but once the racing got going, he looked lost. He was barking up the wrong tree with his complaints at Stroll for his part in the Lap 5 incident as Yuki went for a lunge that was a day late and a dollar short, breaking his front wing and causing a Safety Car. That was all the action Yuki would see on Sunday.
16. Nicolas Latifi (-+)
Another driver waiting for the year to end and the hopeful possibility of a better car next year with the regulation changes. He was in no man’s land for most of the weekend, trying to hang on to the end of battles but not quite joining them. Nowhere near the points.
17. Mick Schumacher (-+)
After Mick mentioned that he hoped he could have more on-track action with Kimi Raikkonen, he probably didn’t mean to get as close as he did, causing his front wing to break off and pour even more debris over the track. He was nowhere after that after losing over a minute coming back to the pits.
18. Kimi Raikkonen (-+)
Kimi had quite the ordeal in Sao Paolo, first getting spun in the Sprint by his teammate, but that could be seen as a racing incident as Kimi could have left more room on the inside of Turn 1. He then made the aforementioned contact with Mick Schumacher but that wasn’t his fault as Mick oversteered into him and came out worse. He tried a late pitstop but it didn’t help get him into the points, finishing 12th.
19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-+)
It has finally been announced that Giovinazzi will be replaced by Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou for 2022 to partner Valtteri Bottas. It has been a strange and unfulfilling ride watching him in F1 since he first arrived in 2017, so I can’t imagine what it has been like for him, probably even more unfulfilling. He has shown speed and put together great performances but they have been too few and far between for him to keep his seat. I think it is the right decision, Zhou deserves a seat.
20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)
Nikita Mazipin finished behind his teammate in both qualifying sessions but took advantage of Schumacher’s mistakes to take a point in their intra-team battle but he must be quite far behind anyway.
The Perfect Formula 