BAKU, Azerbaijan — With the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in the books following the month-long break, here is the fourth iteration of this year’s F1 Driver Power Rankings.

↓20. Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri) Race Position: DNF

Nyck de Vries’ disaster rookie season continues. Although not a surprise to me, what matters is the opinion of the team bosses around the paddock, and at this moment I would assume nobody views de Vries as a long-term candidate for their team. As a relatively old rookie, de Vries probably has one shot at this F1 thing to make a permanent career out of it, and unless he manages to find a different gear (no pun intended), it looks as though his F1 stint will be short-lived.

Previous Ranking: 14

↓19. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) Race Position: 18th

Bottas is in the midst of one of his (typical) rough patches at the moment. As it has been evident because of his long career in F1 that he eventually manages to overcome these drops in form, this pattern is also primarily what makes Bottas one of the most frustrating drivers in F1. It is so hard to root for a person when you know that they are very prone to perform below their natural abilities. This trait is what has hindered his career, both in terms of not being able to win world championships, and also not winning over a huge fanbase. At some point he will come out of this slump because he is too good not to and the Alfa Romeo is a much better car than what the results show. So we just have to “ride out the storm” for the lack of a better term.

Previous Ranking: 17

↓18. Logan Sargeant (Williams) Race Position: 16th

While Sargeant is clearly losing the battle within his own team, he is doing well enough to always put somebody behind him in the races; something that Nicolas Latifi, the guy he replaced, overwhelmingly failed to do so. Therefore, while this may not be viewed as an achievement under other teams, Williams should be satisfied that they no longer have a driver that constantly lags behind everyone else. They finally have two cars’ races to look forward to, and at this point in time, that is something to be thankful for.

Previous Ranking: 16

↓17. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) Race Position: 14th

It was an underwhelming performance for Alpine in general where both drivers equally struggled. While Gasly finished the race above Ocon, Ocon was on a different strategy than Gasly, and otherwise had an impressive performance in the race and also had a few bright spots regardless of the end result. Gasly on the other hand had a very bland race. Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer will be concerned with his team’s performance this season after finishing fourth in the constructor standings last year. The fact that McLaren is above Alpine right now considering how bad the McLaren was to start the year shows the regression (or the lack of improvement) from last year to this year for Alpine. Either way, it has been a disappointing start to the season.

Previous Ranking: 9

↓16. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) Race Position: 16th

After a suspension change forced him to start the race from the pitlane, Ocon’s race strategy was to hold out on pitting as much as he can with the hope of a safety car incident or a red flag allowing him to maintain the position he would gain from others pitting. However, possibly the most boring race of the season didn’t allow for that, and Ocon had to pit at the penultimate lap, causing him to drop out of points. Ironically, the most controversial aspect of the race came from Ocon’s pit, as photographers suddenly barged into the pitlane before the race was finished and (more importantly) before Ocon had completed his required pitstop. Ocon barely avoided hitting people as he entered the pitlane, and F1 luckily and miraculously avoided a huge scandal that would have been a hundred times worse than the scrutiny it got for this close call.

Previous Ranking: 10

↔15. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) Race Position: 13th

Magnussen is having a down season following arguably his best performance in a car last season. While it wasn’t the year where he got his most points throughout a season, Magnussen seemed to have everything clicking for him, and was able to maximize the potential of the Haas car substantially more than his former teammate Mick Schumacher. Fast-forward to this year, and what clicked between Magnussen and the car last season seems to be no longer clicking. Consistent results are naturally going to be hard to come by for any Haas driver, but it is the lack of threat Magnussen has shown compared to his new teammate Hülkenberg is what seems to be the troubling issue. At some point Magnussen needs to start threatening the points again, and not be stuck in no man’s land between P10-P15.

Previous Ranking: 15

↓14. Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) Race Position: 17th

Similar to Ocon, Hülkenberg also hoped for a safety car or a red flag before the race ended to secure a points finish. He did his part perfectly within that strategy, yet the inaction in the ending stages forced him to give up his position to finally pit in the last lap of the race. It was a great performance but a disappointing weekend for him.

Previous Ranking: 8

↑13. Zhou Guanyou (Alfa Romeo) Race Position: DNF

Zhou was having a good race until an overheating issue forced his car into retirement. He’s been having a good season in general. He has improved from last year, and has managed to outperform Bottas for the first four races. Although F1 is always open to surprises, his seat for next year seems to be secure as of this moment.

Previous Ranking: 14

↑12. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) Race Position: 10th

Yuki has really embraced the leadership role at AlphaTauri despite his young age. His reckless driving has tamed a bit this year, and he is showing several signs of growth and maturity as a driver as well. As somebody under the Red Bull developmental program, he will naturally always be associated with the Red Bull seats. Although it seems highly unlikely right now that he will get that seat in the near future, Yuki is at least doing his part by being on track with his development.

Previous Ranking: 13

↑11. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) Race Position: 11th

McLaren (to my huge surprise) is on the rise! After preseason testing and the first three races of the year, many had given up hope on McLaren. Assuming it would be a lost season trying to make the car catch up with the rest of the field, McLaren has instead utilized the month-long break to bring in some effective upgrades that noticeably pushed their cars up in the rankings. Oscar Piastri has been putting in impressive displays lately, and with Alpine struggling right now, suddenly McLaren could be in the hunt to challenge them for the fifth position in the midfield battle.

Previous Ranking: 12

↑10. Lando Norris (McLaren) Race Position: 9th

With the McLaren car suddenly becoming drivable again, Lando Norris has slowly regained his groove as a driver as well. It was never a talent issue with Lando but more so a personality concern. Considering how busy he is with off-track interests, the underwhelming McLaren could have easily distracted him even further. This brought the risk of Lando eventually seeking a way out of his lengthy contract with McLaren; something his boss Zak Brown desperately hopes to avoid. While this issue still isn’t resolved, at least the smoke is somewhat cleared for the time being, allowing Brown to have more time to make McLaren a more desirable place to stay, especially with the availability of the Mercedes seat looming upon Lewis Hamilton’s eventual retirement.

Previous Ranking: 11

↓9. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) Race Position: 7th

Lance Stroll has been great this year, but this was a mediocre race for him. Although the Aston Martin had a remarkable start to the year as the second-best car, it looks as though they came out of this four-week break with the least improvement out of the other top teams. While Alonso was still decent, Stroll’s pace was noticeably off from the Ferraris and the Mercedes’, something that wasn’t the case in the previous three races. So while in the short term this is a decent result, unless Aston Martin brings in effective upgrades themselves, their position as the second-best car may already be over.

Previous Ranking: 7

↓8. George Russell (Mercedes) Race Position: 8th

Russell had an up-and-down weekend. The first sprint weekend of the year also ended up showing us how the newly updated sprint weekends would transpire. As a result of the increased number of racing that took place on the weekend, drivers’ performances were not very linear. Some performed well at qualifying but were terrible at the sprint qualifying, and vice versa. Russell was part of this group; he had a disappointing qualifying where he failed to qualify for Q3, but he had an excellent sprint session. His overall weekend performance is what gives him this ranking, which is lower than his teammate Lewis Hamilton. However, one could argue that George had the better peaks of performance, while Lewis was the one who got the more consistent results. Either way, it was a so-so weekend for George.

Previous Ranking: 5

↓7. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) Race Position: 6th

Lewis is having one of the most consistent seasons amongst the drivers. His performance baseline has been very stable, and although that is good for points, it also does show that Mercedes is nowhere near the speed to challenge Red Bull. Unless the Red Bull cars get early retirements, the only place that Mercedes can really challenge for is the third position on the podium. With Aston and Ferrari being very similar in overall race pace, squeezing out results will be quite the challenge throughout the season, unless midseason upgrades finally separate the three teams from one another.

Previous Ranking: 2

↑6. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) Race Position: 5th

Ferrari appears to be the team that improved the most during the break. Their car finally showed pace throughout all the sessions to separate themselves as the second-best car on the grid; which is what the preseason simulation testing initially predicted for Ferrari. While they are still significantly slower than the Red Bull across a full race, their single-lap speed should allow them to beat Mercedes and Aston for the time being.

Previous Ranking: 20

↑5. Alex Albon (Williams) Race Position: 12th

Alex Albon is on the course to be the breakout star or the most improved driver of the year. Albon is one of the most naturally gifted drivers on the grid thanks to his raw driving ability and race pace; the reason why he was given a seat at Red Bull at such a young age. What hindered his success at Red Bull was the ruthlessness and lack of empathy of team boss Christian Horner (Horner is a notorious a**hole amongst the paddock). When Albon struggled a bit with form and confidence, Horner and Helmut Marko, the head of Red Bull's driver development program, didn’t show the necessary support to a young driver going through his first career slump. Instead, they threw him under the bus for Red Bull’s failures, and replaced him with Checo. While the Checo decision turned out to be successful for Red Bull, it also allowed Albon to rejuvenate his career at Wiliams. The lowered expectations surrounding him as well as the maturation that came from his Red Bull failure has seemingly made Albon a driver capable of outperforming his car. He has easily outclassed Sargeant so far, and more surprisingly, he is always sneaking up into the top ten either through his impressive qualifying lap times or his racecraft during the course of races. Overall, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a continuation of excellent race performances for Albon. He could easily see himself springboard into one of the top teams once again if a new seat opens up at the end of the year.

Previous Ranking: 6

↓4. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) Race Position: 4th

While not as dominant as in the previous weekends, Alonso once again had a great race. It seems as though Aston Martin was one of the teams that preferred not to bring in updates to Baku, and it showed. Alonso was able to finish P4, but throughout qualifying and sprint sessions, he no longer seemed to be a step above Mercedes and Ferrari. The small gap that they had over them appears to be gone, which should make races more unpredictable in the near future (at least until Aston brings in their own upgrades).

Previous Ranking: 3

↓3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) Race Position: 2nd

Verstappen had a chaotic weekend in all sessions prior to the race itself. Whether it was minor accidents, red flags, or arguments with other drivers, Verstappen had his hands full. While I believe Pérez beat him fair and square, there is no denying that the circumstances challenged Verstappen more than it did Pérez. It is noteworthy to point this difference out, not as an excuse for Verstappen losing out, but conversely to show how dominant the Red Bull car is to the rest of the field. Nobody is even remotely close to the “rocketship” Red Bull has built, and that was especially evident this weekend. Although Verstappen had all the obstacles mentioned above in front of him, he managed to swiftly make his way up from P9 to quickly get behind Pérez. Although by that time Pérez himself had established a comfortable lead that was enough for him to ultimately win the race, it also showed how (whether it be Pérez or Verstappen) when it came to racing and not just single-lap performance, there is currently nobody on the grid to challenge the Red Bulls.

Previous Ranking: 1

↑2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) Race Position: 3rd

After a very tough (and disappointing) start to the year, Leclerc had a strong bounce-back weekend in Baku. He came first in both the regular and the spirit qualifying sessions, showing why he is regarded as the only natural talent (outside of veterans Alonso and Hamilton) that could possibly challenge Max Verstappen on an equal playing field. Even compared to Max, Charles still might be the better driver when it comes to single-lap pace, and that especially comes to fruition when he avoids the silly mistakes he has become prone to make; something that Max is significantly better at. Those small mistakes are not the difference this season like it was last season between him and Max, but they have been the difference between him and Carlos both in prior years and this year as well. Although everyone knows Charles is the superior talent to Carlos, Carlos is a very reliable driver when it comes to avoiding the costly mistakes, and while this may be very frustrating at times, it is his ability to always drive at a certain level that lets him get points on a consistent basis. That is why despite the big weekend by Charles, Sainz remains ahead of him on the season standings. If Leclerc manages to replicate this performance more consistently, he belongs in the same tier as Alonso to challenge for the third podium spot unoccupied by the Red Bulls.

Previous Ranking: 19

↑1. Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) Race Position: 1st

Sergio arguably had his best weekend this season. He was superior to his biggest rival, teammate Max Verstappen, in almost all sessions, and deservedly won the sprint and the actual race. With the championship gap shrunk between him and Max, it will be quite the teammate battle for the rest of the season; one that should remind us the battles of Hamilton and Rosberg between 2014-2016.

Previous Ranking: 4

Next Up: Miami Grand Prix

After the first extended break of the F1 season, the drivers will be competing in back-to-back weeks, and will be taking their cars to Miami, Florida for the upcoming race. At the Miami Grand Prix, I, once again, expect a Red Bull 1-2 unless a crash hinders their race, which right now seems to be the only way to stop them. Ferrari and Mercedes seem to have improved, so they could easily challenge the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso for the third and final spot on the podium. My guess is that spot will be up for grabs between Alonso, Hamilton, and Leclerc (if Leclerc avoids the unnecessary simple mistake he has recently become prone to make).