Formula One Driver Power Rankings
Twenty down, two to go!
The home stretch is now on the horizon. There are two more races to go, and yet the championship’s destination remains unknown. The last three weeks saw the final triple header of the campaign. All that’s left is one last final push to Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.
There are still a lot of unknowns about what is to come, but the last three Grands Prix gave us all the twists and turns we need to update the Unofficial Definitive Driver Power Rankings for F1 2021.
10. Esteban Ocon (New!)
It was a decent triple header for the Alpine driver. A 12th place finish in Mexico meant Ocon was pointless in three of the last four races. However, an eighth and fifth place finish in Brazil and Qatar was a much needed boost in performance.
Good team work in those two races helped Alpine move well clear of Alpha Tauri in the Constructors Championship.
Ocon and Fernando Alonso worked with each other to keep Pierre Gasly behind for as long as they could in Brazil, and Ocon’s defence of a charging Sergio Perez in the late stages of Qatar slowed him down enough that Alonso could cruise to a podium during the final laps.
9. Pierre Gasly (New!)
Mexico was a stand out performance from Gasly. A very solid fourth ahead of the two Ferraris meant he actually drove quite a boring race. His pace was enough to stay in clear air for basically every lap of the Grand Prix.
Brazil and Qatar, too, saw very impressive qualifying performances. In fact, Gasly finished each qualifying session in fourth in this triple header. But a poor Sprint in Sao Paulo meant he started in seventh, and penalties upgraded him to a front row start in Doha.
His races didn’t quite fare so well. The Frenchman couldn’t climb any higher in Brazil despite Norris’ puncture, Daniel Ricciardo’s DNF or Ferrari’s extra stops. In Qatar, the race pace of the Alpha Tauri was seemingly nowhere, and Gasly couldn’t even secure a points finish.
8. Valtteri Bottas (-1)
That Bottas took pole at two of the last three races and still dropped down this list says a lot about the Finn’s performances. He described his Mexico pole lap as one of his best ever, but by Turn One he was turned around by Daniel Ricciardo.
The entire run up to that Turn One was a poor display of spacial awareness, as Bottas allowed Max Verstappen room to dive down the outside to overtake both Mercedes drivers.
Bottas was abject in his attempts to catch up, getting stuck behind Ricciardo for the majority of the race, before being sacrificed for a fastest lap point.
By Turn Four in Brazil, Bottas had fallen from first to third and had let both Red Bulls by him. Despite Lewis Hamilton starting 10th in Brazil, and Bottas on pole, the two swapped positions by lap five.
Qatar wasn’t much better, given team boss Toto Wolff felt the need to hurry him up 10 laps in. He started ahead of his teammate’s title rival in all three of these races and was behind him by Turn One at each, which is simply not good enough.
7. Lando Norris (-3)
It’s been a rough period for Norris. Since the disappointment of Sochi, he has only earned 14 points from five races. This has allowed both Ferrari drivers to catch up in the driver’s standings.
Given current performances, the 22-year old could finish seventh in the championship despite being in third for the first half of the season.
The drop-off in results has been a combination of the McLaren losing some pace to Ferrari and some bad luck — the extra pit stop in Qatar due to a puncture dropped him from fourth or fifth down to ninth — but the mistake to cut across Carlos Sainz in Brazil cost him points through his own fault.
6. Fernando Alonso (+4)
“Fuck, you know, I was waiting so long for this, so I’m happy,” swore Alonso after the Qatar Grand Prix.
But no one could blame him for what felt like a massive sigh of relief. The Spaniard earned his 97th podium in Formula One in 2014, but waited only until last weekend to earn his 98th.
It had been coming based on his performances earlier in the season, but the immediate form didn’t suggest as much. Mexico and Brazil saw two ninth place finishes, though it should be said he moved over for teammate Ocon on the final lap in Brazil to hand him eighth.
These were solid and consistent drives, the kind we’ve come to expect from Alonso this season.
But, when the chance arose to earn that podium, he kicked into another gear entirely. His lap times on worn Hards were similar to Perez’s on much fresher Medium tyres when both had clean air early in Perez’s stint.
He pushed like mad, and got the rub of the green thanks to the late Virtual Safety Car. It was a welcome sight to see Alonso back on the podium and a well earned achievement for his comeback season.
5. Carlos Sainz (+/-)
Ferrari have taken control in the battle with McLaren for third in the Constructors Championship. The performances of their two drivers have been crucial in that.
Firstly, Sainz earned an impressive 23 points in this triple header, including a point for third place in the Sprint session in Brazil. Consistency has been key to Sainz’s performances all season long and this triple header was a great illustration of that.
He hasn’t quite had the pace of Charles Leclerc, but that’s to be expected given their levels of experience with the car and Leclerc’s impressive reputation within F1.
The two now look the most even and impressive driver pairing on the grid, and Sainz deserves a lot of credit for that claim. Comparing his adjustment to Ferrari with Ricciardo’s at McLaren is night and day. This triple header just emphasised that.
4. Charles Leclerc (-2)
Sainz has been a beacon of consistency lately, but Leclerc has been just as consistent and even faster. The only issue the Monegasque suffered in these three races came on Saturday in Qatar. But a cracked chassis was diagnosed as the cause of the lack of qualifying pace, and an eighth place finish showed his true pace that weekend.
Two fifth place finishes in Mexico and Qatar was about the best Leclerc could’ve done at those venues, and was a great continuation of fine performances at Austin and Istanbul.
With third all but sealed, the two Ferrari drivers can really start to focus on 2022. If Ferrari can deliver a championship contending car, then seeing them both compete for wins will surely produce magic.
3. Sergio Perez (+3)
No driver has been more up and down on this list in 2021. Perez has had such amazing highs and such low lows. The Mexican has picked up a bit more consistency since the Summer break, but even in Qatar showed his ability to be up and down even over just one weekend.
Albeit, if it wasn’t for two poorly timed Virtual Safety Cars and some unusual strategy decisions then Perez could’ve easily finished on the podium at all three races in this triple header.
Most crucially, the Red Bull driver earned his first ever podium at his home race. This was one of the most emotional moments of the season and a great reward for his recent performances.
These recent results have also seen Perez close up the gap to Bottas to only 13 points, which has brought Red Bull to within five points of Mercedes in the standings. It’s still all to play for, and Perez could yet have a lot of influence over the destination of both championships.
2. Max Verstappen (-1)
This wasn’t the best run of Verstappen’s season. The Dutchman was dominant during the race in Mexico, but a poor qualifying performance put him third on the grid.
Second in Brazil and Qatar were solid results, but a race win at either venue could’ve given him such a tighter grip on the championship.
In particular, his defence of Hamilton in Brazil was poor, and he was lucky to escape any punishment for driving the Briton off the road.
The penalty for ignoring double waved yellows during qualifying in Qatar wasn’t his most costly mistake, but still entirely avoidable and something he will need to learn from as this wasn’t the first time that he’s been caught doing so.
It’s still all to play for, but Verstappen will definitely need to find another level if he is to earn his first ever world title.
1. Lewis Hamilton (+2)
Following Mexico, Hamilton needed to be almost perfect to maintain any kind of threatening position in the championship fight. The seven time champion did essentially that.
Hamilton only dropped points in the Sprint session in Brazil and the fastest lap point in Qatar — the one in Brazil not going to Verstappen means it evened out.
If not for the disqualification from the Friday qualifying session at Interlagos then he almost assuredly would’ve earned a full complement of three points during the Sprint.
The victory on Sunday might go down as one of his best ever wins, and it’s exactly what he needed.
The dream of a record eighth title is truly still alive with two races to go.
But, as we’ve seen in 2021, there are so many twists and turns yet to come which makes it impossible to call who will win.
Who have you got? Max Verstappen, or Lewis Hamilton? Only time will tell…
Pictures courtesy of Formula1.com
Previous entry in the series can be found here:
Subscribe for more!
