Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez took the top 2 spots (F1.com)
The return of Formula 1 to Melbourne was dominated by Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc. Some more unfortunate luck for reigning champion Max Verstappen leaves the World Driver's Championship standings looking very one-sided.
Lower in the midfield, there were tons of storylines, ranging from Alpine's impressive performance to a brutal weekend for the Silverstone-based Aston Martin team.
Therefore, it's once again time for the power rankings! Due to the fact that watching every single session of every race in a season is a borderline impossible task, two of our judges are absent for this week, so I've used the ratings from F1 authors Andrew Lewin and Edd Straw. If all goes well, we will have our typical panel back for when we return to the European slate on the calendar in Imola.
As the author of this article, I've gone about averaging every driver's score and then taking a look at the full season power rankings.
Once again, the criteria remains the same. We look at performance over the whole weekend and try to consider how well that driver would have performed with equal machinery at their disposal.
The top choice was easy, but the rest was a slugfest.
THE SCORES FOR AUSTRALIA
1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Race Position: 1st
Score: 10.0
In just three races, Charles Leclerc has picked up two perfect scores and a commanding lead in both the power rankings and the World Driver's Championship is his prize. Leclerc put together a grand-slam (pole, fastest lap, leads every lap and the race win) for Ferrari's first grand-slam since Fernando Alonso in 2010.
He set fastest laps with utter ease and was in cruise control for almost the entire race. He had one minor moment of crisis at the second safety car restart, but other than that, Leclerc was on another level all weekend. He absolutely deserves a perfect 10 for his dominance.
2. Alex Albon, Williams
Race Position: 10th
Score: 8.8
Williams made a cracking strategy call to allow Alex Albon a chance at the points. However, bad luck with the safety car made it seem as if the Red Bull junior would barely miss out on the top 10. Despite that, Albon put his head down and pipped Zhou Guanyu at the flag.
It was unreal that Albon was still pumping in consistent lap times even on hard tyres aged 57 laps. Williams' strategy gave the Thai driver a chance, but points could not have been within reach if not for Albon's furious drive from last place to P10 at the flag.
3. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Race Position: DNF
Score: 8.4
More bad luck for the reigning champion. For the second time in three races, Max Verstappen's Red Bull suffered a power unit failure with fuel leaking from his engine. Yet again, it robbed the Dutchman of what would have been a comfortable second place.
Verstappen struggled with rear grip in qualifying and the race, leaving him miles off of Charles Leclerc. Either way, he did well to get as much performance out of his Red Bull as possible. Max had a couple of chances to seize the lead from Leclerc, notably off the start and at the second safety car restart. However, as we found out later, it wouldn't matter as Max would pull over at the side of the road.
Verstappen is now barely in the championship discussion, so he needs to reach his peak to get back into the title fight.
T4. Sergio Perez, Red Bull
Race Position: 2nd
Score: 8.1
Sergio Perez's improved qualifying performances are quite notable. P3 on the grid was never in danger for Sergio, particularly after a red flag eliminated Carlos Sainz's best lap time.
Checo drove a comfortable race, losing a place to Lewis Hamilton at the start, which he later took back with ease. Perez was holding off Russell and looked to have P3 secured before his teammate's retirement allowed the Mexican driver to slide into the top 2. Perez is now ahead of Verstappen in the standings and he looks like he could have an intense fight with Sainz this season.
T4. George Russell, Mercedes
Race Position: 3rd
Score: 8.1
George Russell picked up his first ever Mercedes podium after the race win was cruelly robbed from his hands at the 2020 Sakhir GP. Mercedes' Melbourne update was notable and Russell looked capable of challenging for ever higher up the field.
Russell was perhaps a little fortuitous in the race, benefitting from the timing of the safety car and Verstappen's retirement, but the best drivers seize their good luck and turn it into good results. It may be slightly too eager to say that George is one of the grid's best drivers, but he has shown exactly why he deserves a role with the Silver Arrows.
Russell is somewhat strangely second in the championship after a consistent start to life with the Brackley-based team.
T4. Lando Norris, McLaren
Race Position: 8.1
Score: 5th
McLaren finally looked competitive in Melbourne and Lando Norris was a major beneficiary. During a weekend in which his pals George Russell and Alex Albon made headlines for their performances, Lando flew a bit under-the-radar.
Norris was stronger than his teammate Daniel Ricciardo in practice and qualifying. Considering where the McLaren was at a month ago, to pick up P4 in quali is a mega result. Unfortunately for Lando, his car had a lack of grip at the start which pushed him down into P6. Norris tried to jostle with Russell for position, but the Mercedes was a bit too quick.
Either way, an encouraging weekend for the Briton.
7. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Race Position: 4th
Score: 7.9
A third consecutive Englishman in the power rankings as Lewis Hamilton rebounded from a nightmare weekend in Saudi Arabia to finish P4 at Australia.
Despite being over a second off the leaders in practice, Hamilton secured a very respectable P5 on the grid after a much cleaner qualifying session than last week's disaster. Hamilton got his elbows out into turn 1, running in third place before Sergio Perez took the place back. After his teammate got the chance to pit under the safety car, Hamilton was demoted to P5. After Max's engine failure, Hamilton slipped into P4, where he ran for the remainder of the race.
8. Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren
Race Position: 6th
Score: 7.6
Danny Ric had a good race in front of his home crowd. The spotlight that often comes with a home race didn't get to Ricciardo's head, as he was impressive in all three practice sessions.
During the race, Ricciardo kept his nose clean and stayed out of trouble, seeming content to run behind his teammate Lando Norris for a fairly simplistic race. After the turmoil of preseason testing, it was a relief to see the Aussie pick up his first points of the season.
9. Fernando Alonso, Alpine
Race Position: DNF
Score: 7.4
Fernando Alonso will consider himself unlucky after a hydraulics issue robbed him of a chance to challenge for a shocking pole position. The Alpine was quite quick over one lap, giving Alonso a legitimate chance to challenge for P1, especially after setting a purple second sector on his flying lap.
Bad luck continued to plague the Spaniard during the race. His team pursued an alternate tyre strategy that completely backfired and left Alonso struggling for both grip and pace in the latter stages of the race. A late pit stop left Fernando in 17th place, which was last among all qualified finishers.
Bad luck continued to plague the Spaniard during the race. His team pursued an alternate tyre strategy that completely backfired and left Alonso struggling for both grip and pace in the latter stages of the race. A late pit stop left Fernando in 17th place, which was last among all qualified finishers.
Alonso's car looks really quick this year and he could challenge for podiums if this pace continues.
T10. Esteban Ocon, Alpine
Race Position: 7th
Score: 7.3
After Fernando's crash, Ocon managed to outqualify his teammate again. It was a decent performance from the Frenchman who is showing good long-term potential.
In the race, Ocon hunkered down even after an unlucky safety car left him in P17. After Verstappen's retirement, many other drivers began to pit under the resulting virtual safety car. This gave Ocon a chance to make up some of the positions he lost.
At the flag, Ocon was comfortably in the points, but he may feel frustrated with P7, especially after seeing Alpine's pace on Friday.
T10. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
Race Position: 8th
Score: 7.3
Bottas continues to impress for Alfa Romeo. Once again, Bottas outqualified his rookie teammate Zhou Guanyu, but it was a somewhat uninspiring qualifying performance by Bottas' high standards. Luckily for the Finn, he was much more polished in the race.
After Bottas' streak of 103 consecutive Q3 appearances came to an end on Saturday, Bottas had another tough start in the race. However, Valtteri was quick enough to get past Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll. Some shuffling after the safety cars thrust Bottas into the top 10 to pick up P8 at the line.
JUST MISSED OUT
If there is one thing that we can rely upon out of Pierre Gasly, it is that he will put forth an effort to squeeze every last drop of performance out of his AlphaTauri. Gasly didn't have a superstar race performance and he missed out on Q3, but he was opportunistic enough to seize his chances. Gasly picked up 2 points to add to AlphaTauri's season-long haul.
The grid's only rookie, Zhou Guanyu was also fairly decent in Melbourne. His consistency has been impressive this season and though Alex Albon's strategy kept Zhou out of the points, he drove a fairly unspectacular race, falling as low as P17 due to pitting right before the safety car, so P11 is a good result.
THE OVERALL STANDINGS
The power rankings are beginning to stabilize. Charles Leclerc is in a tier of his own, a full point ahead of Max Verstappen, his closest suitor. Verstappen has a large gap between himself and his teammate, Sergio Perez. Further down the order, Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen each slid quite far down. Pierre Gasly's exit from the top 10 allows McLaren driver Lando Norris to make his first overall power rankings appearance of the season.
1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Season Average: 9.7
Last GP: 1st
2. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Season Average: 8.7
Last GP: 2nd
T3. George Russell, Mercedes
Season Average: 8.0
Last GP: 7th
T3. Sergio Perez, Red Bull
Season Average: 8.0
Last GP: 5th
5. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
Season Average: 7.7
Last GP: 6th
T6. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Season Average: 7.6
Last GP: 8th
T6. Kevin Magnussen, Haas
Season Average: 7.6
Last GP: 2nd
8. Lando Norris, McLaren
Season Average: 7.5
Last GP: NR
9. Esteban Ocon, Alpine
Season Average: 7.4
Last GP: 8th
T10. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
Season Average: 7.3
Last GP: 4th
T10. Fernando Alonso, Alpine
Season Average: 7.3
Last GP: NR
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