F1 Power Rankings: Bahrain Grand Prix

Leclerc and Sainz celebrate the victory (Formula1.com)

Formula 1 has recommenced in a way that we have never seen before. The Bahrain Grand Prix marked Ferrari's first 1-2 finish in over 12 years, since the days of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. It also represented an absolute nightmare for Red Bull Powertrains in their first race since the departure of Honda as an engine manufacturer.

In this new series on Sincere Sports, I'll be taking a look at every driver over the entire weekend and together with a group of judges, I will be ranking every driver's performance.

The panel of judges includes:

-Erik Lagerweij (myself)

-Jordan Lagerweij

-Jared Vegter

-Josh Vegter

These guys are all certified legends for their contributions.

It's key to note that these power rankings focus solely on the driver's individual performance and how much they managed to extract from their car. The power rankings will take machinery entirely out of the equation and simply judge the paddock's personalities as drivers.

I have averaged the scores from the judges to create a list of the top 10 driver performances for the Bahrain GP. At the end of the article, I will have a season-long leaderboard, in which I average out each driver's scores on the season as a whole, and listing the top 10 drivers. Obviously, since this was the first race of the year, the season-long leaderboard will be identical to the race leaderboard, but it will be interesting to see how the standings go along.

With that being said, let's get into it!

THE SCORES FOR BAHRAIN

1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Race Position: 1st

Score: 10.0

All the judges agree: it was a flawless race performance from Charles Leclerc. Ferrari clearly have a car capable of winning a world championship this year and if Leclerc can continue to consistently show his Bahrain form, the Monegasque could be the man to dethrone Max Verstappen.

After a stunning Q3 lap put him on pole, Leclerc was on cruise control for the majority of the race, taking advantage of the clean air to build up a huge gap on Verstappen. Once Red Bull pulled off the undercut, Leclerc and Verstappen engaged in an unbelievable two-lap battle in which the Ferrari driver prevailed.

Once Verstappen had cooked his brakes, Leclerc seized the race by the scruff of its' neck and won Ferrari their first race since Singapore 2019.

2. Kevin Magnussen, Haas

Magnussen was rapid all weekend (Formula1.com)

Race Position: 5th

Score: 9.1

Kevin Magnussen's Formula 1 comeback was stunning, but after the form he flashed in preseason, it looked like he was legitimately capable of fighting for regular points. The Dane made team principal Guenther Steiner's dreams come true with a world-class qualifying lap that put him on the fourth row. Keep in mind that he outqualified George Russell, also known as Mr. Saturday, in a car that was expected to be much slower than the Mercedes.

It was a fairly smooth race performance. Magnussen got a decent start and stayed out of trouble. He was running in 7th late in the race, which would have been considered impressive on its' own, but once the two Red Bulls went out with engine issues, K-Mag took advantage and brought home a lucrative 10 point haul that leaves Haas third in the Constructors' Championship.

T3. Max Verstappen, Red Bull

Race Position: DNF

Score: 8.6

Admittedly, our 4 judges have a slight bias towards Max Verstappen, but I truly feel that this is a fair score. Max was the only driver operating on the same wavelength as Leclerc, missing out on pole position by just a tenth of a second.

Despite having more pace on the straights, Verstappen's Red Bull was slower than Leclerc's Ferrari was during the race due to Ferrari's excellent ability to carry speed through the slower corners. Nevertheless, that didn't stop Verstappen from going toe-to-toe with Leclerc with a couple of bold moves into Turn 1 that got me out of my seat.

Unfortunately for the Dutchman, reliability issues cost him a podium and he now has a lot of ground to make up in this title fight.

T3. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

Bottas outqualified his replacement, George Russell (Formula1.com)

Race Position: 6th

Score: 8.6

Quite possibly the funniest part of this weekend was seeing Valtteri Bottas, in what was expected to be a backmarker Alfa Romeo, outqualifying George Russell. Russell, as F1 fans know, replaced Bottas at Mercedes, despite the Finn's role in securing 5 Constructors' Championships for the Silver Arrows.

We have to give Bottas credit for his quali lap, but he was quite good in the race too. After a poor start due to a lot of wheelspin, Bottas was floundering out of the points. However, Valtteri raced maturely and managed to get right back into 6th by the time he crossed the line. The Alfa looks really quick this season and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Bottas regularly getting into Q3.

T5. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

Race Position: 2nd

Score: 8.5

Carlos Sainz's move from McLaren to Ferrari has undoubtedly paid off with the Scuderia establishing themselves as title favourites. It was a typically composed performance from Carlos this weekend. He qualified ahead of Sergio Perez, which Ferrari will likely be hoping for consistently this season.

He clearly was lacking a lot of pace compared to his teammate Leclerc, but it was still an impressive second place finish for the Spaniard. He'll be hoping for his first win this season and I'd be stunned if he didn't get it in the very near future.

T5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Hamilton salvaged a good result in an uncompetitive car (Formula1.com)

Race Position: 3rd

Score: 8.5

I legitimately thought that Mercedes were holding back some performance after lacklustre lap times in Friday's free practice sessions. However, it does seem as if the team is on the back foot and aren't quite capable of fighting for wins.

Thus, it was remarkable that 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton came away from Bahrain smiling. Though luck played a part, he walked away with his 183rd career podium.

Hamilton easily shrugged off his new teammate Russel in qualifying and had a great start off the line. Though porpoising continued to plague the Brit, Hamilton showed his class and experience to get Mercedes off and running as they hope to find more performance in the car.

7. Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo

Race Position: 10th

Score: 8.4

It took Nicholas Latifi over a year to shed the "pay driver" label that comes with a controversial promotion to Formula 1. It took Lance Stroll even longer. So, it was impressive that Zhou was almost universally praised for his strong performance in his first ever F1 Grand Prix weekend.

Though Bottas absolutely slapped him up in qualifying, the first ever full-time Chinese driver showed excellent racecraft. An overtake on the Williams of Alex Albon was particularly brilliant. Typically, F1 rookies show great raw pace and lack the awareness to make up places in the race. It was refreshing to see Zhou drive so smoothly around the demanding Bahrain International Circuit.

8. Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri

Tsunoda picked up the pieces after his teammate's retirement (Formula1.com)

Race Position: 8th

Score: 8.0

Yuki Tsunoda is so quick on his day, so it was shocking to see him go out in Q1, despite having a competitive AlphaTauri car at his disposal. Nevertheless, Yuki's race performance certainly made up for it. His overtaking ability is elite and he had a couple of really impressive moves at the circuit where he made his F1 debut.

There was a certain instance where Tsunoda held off Valtteri Bottas' Alfa Romeo for a respectable chunk of time, as the youngster showed off his great defensive driving. Yuki's teammate Pierre Gasly retired with a full power unit failure, so it was up to the Japanese racer to pick up the points. He didn't disappoint.

9. Mick Schumacher, Haas

Race Position: 11th

Score: 7.9

This certainly looks like the year where Mick Schumacher will pick up his first points. Though Magnussen definitely outshone the young German, Mick drove a mature race and just barely missed out on 10th position after a late Zhou Guanyu overtake.

It was the best qualifying performance of his career. Unlike some other young drivers on the paddock, Mick is very tidy with his driving. He didn't drive the wheels off the car today, but it was a performance that deservedly garnered him many plaudits.

10. George Russell, Mercedes

Race Position: 4th

Score: 7.6

George Russell's second race in Bahrain with Mercedes wasn't quite as bombastic as his first, but he wound up earning more points this time than he did in Sakhir a couple of years ago. The qualifying performance was pretty worrying for George, especially when you consider that his teammate Lewis Hamilton was on the third row. Nevertheless, he executed Mercedes' race strategy well.

He wasn't at his aggressive best and still seems to be getting used to being in such a quick car, but to make up 5 places in the race warrants a shout in the power rankings, even if the retirement of both Red Bulls was a major factor in his fourth place finish.

JUST MISSED OUT

It was a heartbreaking finish to the race for Sergio Perez, who was holding off Lewis Hamilton well in the final laps and looked to be on track for a podium before an engine failure sent him spinning out at Turn 1. It will be disheartening to pick up no points in the race. His qualifying pace looked much better in Bahrain than it did last season, which will be a helpful tool if Red Bull are to get back in the hunt for the constructors'.

Esteban Ocon also performed well during the race. He often showcased pace far superior to his experienced teammate Fernando Alonso. In fact, at one point Alpine inverted the cars using team orders to get Ocon further ahead during the Grand Prix.. Unfortunately, a mediocre qualifying run prevented Ocon from pushing into the top 5.

THE OVERALL STANDINGS

Since COVID-19 has already struck the paddock with Sebastian Vettel missing this race for Aston Martin, it seems much wiser to me to pursue an average score rather than a total score. Obviously, the overall standings are the exact same as the race rankings now, but they should be drastically different after we go to Jeddah for the Saudi Arabian GP next weekend.