F1 Driver Power Rankings: Round 1

Sergio “Checo” Perez, Max Verstappen, and Fernando Alonso at the podium of Bahrain GP

Eric Alonso | Credit: Getty Images

SAKHIR, Bahrain — With the first round of the new Formula 1 season in the books, I wanted to rank the grid based on their performance from a combination of various factors. This ranking list is very fluid; it will consider the entire weekend (not just the race), and it will be updated after every race weekend. With that being said, here is the first iteration of this year’s F1 Driver Power Rankings.

20) Esteban Ocon (Alpine) Race Position: DNF

While he had an OK qualifying, it was an error-prone race for the French driver. Ocon got multiple time penalties in the race, the first coming for a misaligned starting position, the second for exceeding the speed limit in the pitlane while he was in there to serve a stop-and-go penalty for the first penalty, and the third for the pit crew not abiding with the stop-and-go penalty rules for the very same pitstop. In the end, what was a promising 9th-placed grid start turned into a clumsy DNF.

19) Oscar Piastri (McLaren) Race Position: DNF

Possibly the most unpopular driver at the paddock at the moment as a result of last year’s free agency fiasco between Alpine and McLaren, Piastri got outperformed by his teammate Lando Norris in both qualifying and the race. While nobody was expecting him to conjure something magical out of the terribly built and problematic McLaren, his lack of influence on the car’s performance does signal trouble for someone that has been labeled as the “next Max Verstappen” by Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

18) Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri) Race Position: 14th

Speaking boldly and confidently about his chances in competing against his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, de Vries failed to leave any mark in the race weekend whatsoever, putting a disappointing and uncompetitive performance in both qualifying and the race.

17) Kevin Magnussen (Haas) Race Position: 13th

While the final position may seem somewhat of a good result following the performance in the qualifying, the concerning thing about Magnussen is that he underperformed considering the potential of the car and the fact that there were three retirements; two of which would have finished the race higher than him under normal circumstances. So 13th place (and the fact that Hülkenberg had a bad race as well) could a be misguiding final result for the history books. Ideally, he should be better next race.

16) Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) Race Position: 15th

The “Hulk” had a great qualifying, yet a terrible race. Considering the potential of the Haas, their absolute minimum should be a P15 in the first few races until everyone’s car upgrades come in. After the pace he showed in qualifying, the final result is a disappointing one and a missed opportunity at points.

15) Lando Norris (McLaren) Race Position: 17th

It was a terrible weekend for McLaren. Both of their cars struggled with technical issues, forcing Piastri to retire very early on, and causing Lando to pit five times in order to maintain the engine. In any given season McLaren would have retired Lando’s car as well, but given that they were the team that ran the least number of laps in pre-season testing because of additional car problems, McLaren decided to use this race to further test the car and build up data for improvement. Given that Lando was a good soldier and did what was asked of him in a race he was completely uncompetitive, the testing of the car was the only bright side of this race if you want to think of it as looking glass half full.

14) Zhou Guanyou (Alfa Romeo) Race Position: 16th

While not a bad performance overall on the weekend, a disappointing way to cap it off with a P16. Zhou was able to showcase the potential of the Alfa Romeo car as a leader in the midfield fight through his qualifying performance and race pace, and while that is a good sign for future races, it was a disappointing result considering points were up for grabs when Ocon struggled with time penalties and Gasly had started the race from P20.

13) Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) Race Position: 11th

Considering the performance of de Vries in the same car, the conclusion that can be made is that either de Vries struggled immensely and that Tsunoda’s result is just the baseline of the car's performance, or, the car is just not that good and that the raw pace and reckless driving of Tsunoda managed to squeeze out a solid P11. At this very early point, my belief is of the latter.

12) George Russell (Mercedes) Race Position: 7th

Russell didn’t have a bad race, but it wasn’t a good one either. When you set goals for any achievement, you also divide your expected outcomes by those that are a reach, those that are your target, and those that are your safety. Right now a top-two finish seems a reach for Mercedes, a top-four finish is the target, and a top-six finish seems a safety result. So the problem here for Russell is that while P7 is not a bad finish considering how close people expect Mercedes, Ferrari, and Aston Martin to be with one another this year, it is also the bare minimum of what would be an acceptable result for them.

11) Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) Race Position: 4th

From a points standpoint, it was a good race for Sainz. However, realistically it was a race where he was never competitive. While his personality and overall reliability is perfect to set him up to be Ferrari’s No. 2 man behind Leclerc, the car currently isn’t good enough, and conversely, Sainz himself isn’t good enough to outperform the car to contest Red Bull. A P4 was possible for Ferrari in this race, but Sainz never gave the sense that he could have gotten a better result out of the car; a quality that separates him and Leclerc.

10) Alex Albon (Williams) Race Position: 10th

The chatter following pre-season testing was that the Williams car had improved, but no major news publication had the confidence to put them above McLaren and AlphaTauri in their season ranking predictions. Yet a solid qualifying and race performance with both drivers has hinted that the car is actually better than most thought it would be. Combining that with the talent Albon possesses, the team and the driver had a successful weekend that continued their upward trajectory as a team over the past two years.

9) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) Race Position: DNF

Leclerc had a solid P3 locked in, and while that may still be a disappointment to some (including me), a podium seemed to be comfortably in the bag until another powertrain issue forced the Ferrari driver into hitting the showers early. Nonetheless, a strong showing that once again demonstrated the clear difference between Leclerc and his teammate Sainz when it comes to natural talent, raw pace, and the ability to outperform the car.

8) Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) Race Position: 8th

Mr. Reliable himself once again proved his consistency when it comes to avoiding huge mistakes and maintaining a solid baseline car performance. The defense against Leclerc was another proof of the savviness of the ex-Mercedes veteran, which was also what led to the gap between Leclerc and Verstappen increase to an uncatchable distance, essentially making the race a foregone conclusion.

7) Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) Race Position: 5th

I’m not gonna lie, I’m quite happy that the monopoly of Hamilton and Mercedes is fully over. As one of my favorite drivers growing up, I was sickened by how boring F1 had become because of the technical regulations that favored Mercedes between 2014 and 2021. While some attributed this domination to the greatness of Hamilton, I was actually one of the few people that thought it took away from his greatness because of the lack of competition he faced, which I believe hindered him from showcasing how talented he actually is. So as Hamilton and Mercedes have been struggling the past two seasons, I am once again finding myself enjoying watching Hamilton, as the circumstances have created a scenario where Hamilton needs to step up and show that he is indeed the driver that won six titles in seven years. While this was not one of his better races, it was still impressive enough as he was able to challenge both Pérez, Alonso, and Sainz until his tires gave out towards the end of the race. This was good, but more is expected out of him until Mercedes finds a way to fix their car.

6) Logan Sargeant (Williams) Race Position: 12th

I'm not rooting against Sargeant, but I’ll admit I’m a skeptic, cause I still believe that he got the job as a token driver in a sport that has dramatically become Americanized in the last 3-4 years thanks to Netflix’s Drive to Survive. So I wasn’t sure how he would fare coming into Williams, a team where the driver needs to be more than just consistent and reliable, but also be capable of frequently outperforming the car (à la George Russell in Williams). Therefore the result on the weekend, and more importantly the poise that he showed in the car was incredibly surprising and impressive. He didn’t look out of place, and looked significantly more adept at being an F1 driver than the guy he replaced in Nicholas Latifi.

5) Pierre Gasly (Alpine) Race Position: 9th

Had a terrible qualifying where he was eliminated because he had his lap time deleted for going off the racetrack, despite the fact that it was already a much slower lap time than his teammate Ocon’s. However, Gasly was once again able to show his long-run pace, and despite starting the race dead last, he was able to finish with a very impressive P9. A signature race for him.

4) Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) Race Position: 2nd

Like both Red Bull cars, Pérez had a relatively inactive race. Both drivers were mostly tasked with maintaining their tires rather than actually fighting their opponents. While that doesn’t bode well for us fans in terms of the level of competition we’ll see throughout the rest of the season, it does suggest that Pérez could easily challenge Verstappen without worrying much about who’s behind him.

3) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) Race Position: 6th

Until four days before race day, it was widely expected that Stroll would be out of the race and would be replaced by Aston Martin’s reserve driver Felipe Drugovich because of the fractured wrist he sustained during a bicycle accident in the offseason. Despite being in surgery 12 days ago, Stroll showed up to race weekend, having already missed the pre-season testing the week before. Being new and inexperienced with his car, Stroll struggled to control the car during practice sessions, and to a lesser extent in qualifying. However, he managed to pull one out of the hat by splitting the two Mercedes’ with a very solid P6. A very impressive drive considering the conditions, and further proof of the strength of this year’s Aston Martin.

2) Max Verstappen (Red Bull) Race Position: 1st

In what turned out to be a boring race, Verstappen got the job done. The RB19 makes the rest of the field look like F2 cars (aside from Aston Martin, which is practically last year’s Red Bull car RB18), so with that being the case, Verstappen’s performance was good but not impressive. He did what was necessary without any trouble that would worry his team.

1) Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) Race Position: 3rd

El plan seems to be working to perfection. Alonso, who has long been ridiculed for his career choices when it comes to picking teams who are on a downward trajectory with their car performance, suddenly finds himself having picked the second-best car in the offseason. Arguably the most complete driver on the grid, many questioned why Alonso had left Alpine (which was the 4th-ranked team last year) to join Aston Martin, a team that was struggling to get a car into the top 10 last year and had finished 7th in team standings. However all that seems irrelevant right now, and quite amusingly, at the age of 42, Alonso seems to be the biggest challenger to the Red Bull dominance for the rest of the year.

Next Up: Saudi Grand Prix

In a fortnight’s time, the drivers will be competing at the tricky Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. While predictions after the first race are never really accurate, my prediction is that Verstappen will once again win comfortably, and that the Aston Martin is legit and Alonso will likely get on the podium once more. On the negative side, I expect McLaren to continue to be an engineering debacle for the rest of the season.