Max Verstappen celebrated the season's first win (Formula1.com)
Oh boy, this year of F1 looks like tons of fun.
Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc engaged in a thrilling bout of wheel-to-wheel racing, but the reigning world champion came out on top with a brilliant usage of drag reduction system (DRS). The Saudi Arabian race weekend marked Sergio Perez's first ever pole position in F1, an odd amount of retirements and Lewis Hamilton's first Q1 exit on pure pace since 2009.
The race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit means that the power rankings boys are back!
Our award-winning (not really, but we'll get there) panel of judges have their grades for all 20 drivers. Like last week, I will be averaging the scores from this weekend and taking a deep dive at the drivers with the top 10 scores.
At the end of the article, the season-long leaderboard has seen some major changes as we get more and more data.
You may recall from last week the criteria for the power rankings. We take machinery entirely out of the equation and simply rank these athletes based on how they could extract the performance from their cars.
Let's get started!
THE SCORES FOR SAUDI ARABIA
1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Race Position: 1st
Score: 9.0
For whatever reason, Max Verstappen couldn't get any grip on his tyres for his Q3 run. It led to a pretty brutal qualifying performance by his sky high standards, lining up on the grid behind both Ferraris and his teammate.
However, in the race, Verstappen showed why he's the reigning world champion. He learned from his mistakes from last week's race in Bahrain, taking a more composed approach to his battle style. He understood the power of DRS down the main straight and he chose the perfect time to overtake Leclerc for the race win.
His defense of Leclerc was also quite good. The Ferrari had a couple overtaking opportunities, but Max positioned the car beautifully to keep hold of the lead.
2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
The Ferraris and Red Bulls engaged in a titanic scrap (Formula1.com)
Race Position: 2nd
Score: 8.9
Though it lacked the flair of his brilliant Bahrain weekend, Leclerc was sneakily impressive yet again in Jeddah. He once again beat his Ferrari teammate in qualifying and looked to be the favourite for pole before Checo Perez put together a stonking lap.
In the race, Leclerc was again second best to Perez, finishing out of DRS range after the end of the first lap. Though that could have spelled the end of Leclerc's hopes for a second consecutive win, a lucky safety car brought out by Nicholas Latifi's crash thrust the Monegasque into first place.
He had a tough task keeping Max Verstappen behind him, but Leclerc managed quite well considering Red Bull had such an advantage on the straights. At the end of the day, he came up short, but it was some more good stuff from the championship leader.
3. Sergio Perez, Red Bull
Race Position: 4th
Score: 8.5
Wow, what a lap by Sergio Perez in Q3. Checo picked up the first-ever pole by a Mexican and the first of his career to secure P1 on the grid. Despite Leclerc's pace in qualifying, Perez put together arguably his greatest ever lap to seal P1.
He then was so unlucky in the race, pitting right before the safety car, and watching Leclerc go speeding past him. Though a win wasn't guaranteed, it looked like Checo was on track for the third win of his F1 career.
I always respect the decisions of my fellow judges, but this score seems somewhat low for Checo's weekend. In their defense, Perez was far from perfect during the race. He wasn't fast enough in the first 15 laps to get out of undercut range, despite having clean air. He also wasn't able to challenge Carlos Sainz for the final podium place, never getting within one second of the Spaniard.
4. George Russell, Mercedes
Russell destroyed his teammate Hamilton (Hassan Ammar, Associated Press)
Race Position: 5th
Score: 8.0
In a race weekend that was dominated by headlines of Lewis Hamilon's shock Q1 exit, George Russell quietly had a really great couple of days. He looked significantly more at ease with the car than he did in Bahrain. Considering Mercedes' lack of pace, his sixth place finish in Q3 was particularly stunning. It may be one of the best laps of his career and he's had some good ones.
The race was a quiet affair for the former Williams driver. His car wasn't quick enough to challenge the top 4, but Russell was too quick for any driver below him. Nevertheless, he kept his head down and came across the line in 5th place.
Russell kept 4th place in the drivers' championship, overtaking his teammate Lewis Hamilton. For the record, Russell was the only driver with identical scores from every single judge.
T5. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
Race Position: 3rd
Score: 7.9
Boy, is Carlos Sainz consistent or what? The Saudi Arabian GP marked his 17th consecutive points finish and his 3rd consecutive podium. In terms of pure pace, he's far off the elite group of Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and even George Russell. He was once again convincingly outqualified by his teammate Charles Leclerc.
Sainz got beat by Max Verstappen at the start and had to settle for fourth place off the line. However, after Sergio Perez's unfortunate pit stop incident, Sainz inherited third place. He had some decent race pace, but nothing overly incredible. Sainz seemed proud of his performance in Saudi Arabia, but he still looks a step behind Leclerc.
T5. Lando Norris, McLaren
Norris showed real pace (Formula1.com)
Race Position: 7th
Score: 7.9
After McLaren's pace issues last week, Norris' 6 point haul in Jeddah was a very impressive performance. The McLaren had much better pace than it did last week and Norris managed to fight his way up the field. Norris eked everything possible out of his car and missed out on Q3 by three tenths of a second.
Unfortunately, Norris lost a drag race with Esteban Ocon to the line, missing out on P6 by a tenth of a second. However, this performance showed F1 fans that Lando is clearly McLaren's lead driver. In that sense, nothing has changed since last season. Norris is still the guy at a McLaren team that could be challenging for points more regularly.
7. Esteban Ocon, Alpine
Race Position: 6th
Score: 7.7
Ocon just barely missed out on the power rankings last week, but he solidified his spot with another great race. After a brilliant Q3 put him ahead of both Mercedes, Ocon lined up fifth on the grid with a chance for some major points for Alpine. Ocon looks really quick on his day, which is becoming more and more consistent these days.
Ocon and Fernando Alonso engaged in arguably the best battle of the season so far. The two teammates went head-to-head for several laps, as team president Otmar Szafnauer blessed us with incredible motor racing. Though Alonso won the majority of the duels, once the Spaniard retired with mechanical issues, Ocon put his head down and picked up a very impressive P6.
The Frenchman is arguably ahead of Fernando Alonso this season. I wouldn't be surprised if he beat his more experienced teammate.
8. Kevin Magnussen, Haas
Magnussen fought major neck pains (Formula1.com)
Race Position: 9th
Score: 7.6
Though Magnussen wasn't quite as quick in Saudi Arabia as he was in Bahrain, it was still a very impressive performance by the Dane. Magnussen still got the Haas into Q3 for a second consecutive weekend after 0 Q3 appearances for the team last year.
During the race, K-Mag held around in a pack with Valtteri Bottas and the two Alpines. In arguably the slowest car of the bunch, Magnussen remained in the fray. However, points looked just outside his reach until a virtual safety car stemming from Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso's retirements let him pit for fresh tires. Magnussen went on a furious run to nip past Lewis Hamilton and pick up two points in P9.
Despite reliability issues and alleged neck pains, Magnussen picked up 2 more points to add to his impressive F1 return.
9. Fernando Alonso, Alpine
Race Position: DNF
Score: 7.5
Poor Fernando Alonso. Despite finding some extra pace when it counted on race day to put him ahead of his teammate Esteban Ocon, an engine failure forced the veteran out of the race.
It was an unceremonious qualifying for Alonso, though he admitted that P7 on the grid was the best he could have hoped for. Ocon was quicker than him in practice and qualifying, which signaled some diminished one lap pace.
However, the points aren't awarded on Saturday; they're given on Sunday. During the race, Alonso used his impeccable racecraft to put himself in a good position for P7 at the flag. However, as I mentioned, mechanical failures forced him out of the race and he came home with nothing to show.
10. Pierre Gasly
Gasly picked up his first points of the year (Formula1.com)
Race Position: 8th
Score: 7.4
After a fire broke out in Pierre Gasly's AlphaTauri last week, he was eager to get on board with a top performance in Jeddah.
Gasly pipped Kevin Magnussen to P9 on Saturday after dragging an unreliable AlphaTauri into the final qualifying session. In the race, Gasly had some tyre wear early that forced him to pit before everybody else. Unfortunately for him, the safety car came out right after and Gasly fell to P14.
Nevertheless, Gasly showed his insane pace with a charge into P8 by the time he reached the flag. Apparently, intestinal pain was hindering him over the last few laps, so salvaging 4 points must be considered as a success.
JUST MISSED OUT
Not only did Valtteri Bottas get shafted in the race, as a late retirement cost him a chance at more points in the Alfa Romeo, he also misses out on the power rankings' top 10. The Finn was excellent in qualifying again, slapping up Zhou Guanyu from a performance perspective. He made some tidy moves and had good pace overall. The wheelspin issues that the Alfa has been suffering from on the race starts didn't hurt Bottas this time, but mechanical issues did.
THE OVERALL STANDINGS
Big changes this week, as you may have expected. Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly join in. Zhou Guanyu, Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher fell out to make way for the new trio. At the top, Verstappen barely narrowed the gap to Leclerc, but he is now tied with Magnussen for second place in the total standings. Lewis Hamilton suffered a dramatic fall after a stunningly bad qualifying performance in Jeddah.
1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Season Average: 9.5
Last GP: 1st
2. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Season Average: 8.8
Last GP: 3rd
T2. Kevin Magnussen, Haas
Season Average: 8.8
Last GP: 2nd
4. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
Season Average: 8.2
Last GP: 5th
5. Sergio Perez, Red Bull
Season Average: 8.0
Last GP: Not Ranked
6. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
Season Average: 7.9
Last GP: 3rd
7. George Russell, Mercedes
Season Average: 7.8
Last GP: 10th
T8. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Season Average: 7.5
Last GP: 5th
T8. Esteban Ocon, Alpine
Season Average: 7.5
Last GP: NR
10. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri
Season Average: 7.3
Last GP: NR
NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED
Comments
Post a Comment