Formula 1's Driver Power Rankings After 2014 Italian Grand Prix
Coming immediately after the controversial and exciting race in Belgium, Formula One's 2014 Italian Grand Prix had a lot to live up to.
It certainly delivered, with a host of drivers putting in excellent performances.
Lewis Hamilton was on top all weekend. After pressuring team-mate Nico Rosberg into an error, the Brit recorded a hat-trick of pole, race win and fastest lap.
Behind the two Mercedes, the racing was no less dramatic. Jenson Button and Sergio Perez had a great battle over what would become seventh and eighth, while Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas' recoveries put them in the running for driver of the day.
Daniil Kvyat also came from the back, but his bid for a Top 10 finish was ended by a brake failure.
Nico Rosberg also had a braking issue. His error gifted the win to Hamilton and deprived fans of what might have been a great battle for the lead.
Joining him on the disappointed step was Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard suffered his first non-finish of the year, ending his 100 percent points-scoring record.
Note on Power Rankings
These rankings should not be confused with the actual championship table.
Rather than looking solely at points, they also take into account race results, qualifying, overall performance of each driver and how they stack up against their team-mates. The relative pace of each driver's car is factored in.
Only the performance at the last six races is considered.
The previous rankings, created after the Belgian Grand Prix, are here. All position changes are relative to the positions in that article.
Honourable Mentions
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Kevin Magnussen merits a mention for another very strong performance. He was kicked out of the points after finishing sixth at Spa because he forced Fernando Alonso off the track, and probably deserved it.
But he almost certainly didn't deserve the five-second penalty he received in Italy for forcing Valtteri Bottas off the track. It knocked him from seventh at the chequered flag down to 10th.
Felipe Massa also had a great weekend, scoring his first podium since 2013's Spanish Grand Prix.
10. Jenson Button
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No Change
Jenson Button had another good showing in Italy as his McLaren finally starts to come alive.
He qualified in sixth, beaten at the last second by team-mate Kevin Magnussen. The Dane's lap was just 85 thousandths of a second quicker.
Button's start was mediocre—he was passed by Sebastian Vettel off the line, and remained stuck behind the Red Bull for the next 17 laps. Passing proved difficult for both McLarens, with neither able to make a move stick.
But that didn't stop them having a go. Button exited the pits behind Sergio Perez in the Force India, and the two men spent the rest of the race battling over what would eventually become seventh and eighth.
The duel was one of the highlights of the race, with both drivers fighting hard but fair all the way to the chequered flag.
Perez prevailed, and Button came home eighth.
He holds station in 10th.
9. Jules Bianchi
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Down One
Jules Bianchi didn't have a spectacular weekend in front of what he hopes will one day become his "home" crowd.
He qualified 20th, equalling his worst Saturday showing of the year, though he started 19th after Kvyat's penalty.
The Frenchman easily out-paced Marcus Ericsson but couldn't keep up with Kamui Kobayashi in the other Caterham. He finished a lonely 18th.
Bianchi drops one place to ninth.
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8. Nico Hulkenberg
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Down Two
Nico Hulkenberg has looked slightly off-colour in recent races.
He could only qualify 14th in Italy, out-paced by team-mate Sergio Perez—who lined up 10th—for the second race in a row.
A good start saw Hulkenberg ninth after the opening lap, right on Perez's tail, but he fell back quickly. The German lost three places in as many laps and was 12th when he made his one and only stop.
Hulkenberg emerged in 11th. Lacking the pace we'd usually expect him to show, he was unable to catch the queue of cars ahead and was passed by Daniil Kvyat a few laps from the end.
He finished 12th and drops two spots to eighth.
7. Sergio Perez
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Up Two
Sergio Perez has turned things around at Force India, and appears to now be the man with the momentum within the team.
He qualified 10th, beating Nico Hulkenberg for only the fourth time in 2014, and was up to eighth after the opening lap.
Perez ran in a lengthy train led by Kevin Magnussen for the first part of the race, then made an early stop in an attempt to move up the order. After everyone had pitted, he was seventh.
Jenson Button in eighth was marginally quicker, but Perez had good straight-line speed. The McLaren man tried and failed on several occasions to get by, the Mexican defending firmly but fairly.
He was unable to keep Daniel Ricciardo behind, but managed to finish in what became seventh after Kevin Magnussen took a five-second penalty.
Perez is up two places to seventh.
6. Daniil Kvyat
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Up One
Daniil Kvyat became the first driver of the year to receive a penalty for using a sixth powertrain component; after qualifying a respectable 11th, he was demoted to 21st.
Any hope of points seemed to have evaporated—his Toro Rosso is powered by a Renault, which isn't among the finest powerplants.
But Kvyat set about his recovery like a man possessed. Only 20th after the opening lap, he was 15th after eight. Having started on hard-compund tyres, the Russian drove the longest opening stint of anyone, and ran as high as fourth before pitting for mediums on Lap 30.
Kvyat emerged 57 seconds behind race leader Lewis Hamilton.
He began to reel in the cars ahead, passing team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne for 12th and Force India's Nico Hulkenberg for 11th.
Twenty laps after his stop he was closing in fast on 10th-placed Kimi Raikkonen, having lost only four seconds to Hamilton in that time.
Then the all-too-common Toro Rosso bad luck turned up. Kvyat's brakes failed as he tried to slow the car from 340 kilometres an hour for the first chicane. The car control he displayed to avoid hitting first Raikkonen and then the barrier was outstanding, but any hope of points was gone.
He drove the final two laps with little in the way of brakes, and came home 11th.
Kvyat is up one to sixth.
5. Nico Rosberg
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No Change
Nico Rosberg was under pressure coming into the Italian Grand Prix weekend after colliding with his team-mate at Spa.
He looked a touch slower than Hamilton all weekend, and qualified second with a lap nearly three-tenths off the pace.
But it seemed things would go his way at the start when Hamilton got away poorly. Rosberg quickly built a lead over Felipe Massa, though he lost a bit of it when he went straight on at the first chicane.
Hamilton passed Massa and closed the gap slightly. After both men had made their only stop, the Brit again began to close and the pressure on the German began to ramp up.
He couldn't quite take it—Rosberg again misjudged his entry to the first chicane, gifting the lead to his team-mate.
After coming home a comfortable second, Rosberg was loudly booed on the podium by the tifosi. In 2012, the object of their dislike was Hamilton—this year, he got a loud cheer.
Funny old world.
Rosberg remains fifth.
4. Fernando Alonso
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Down One
Fernando Alonso qualified in seventh place, the best of the non Mercedes-engined runners. His best lap was over seven tenths of a second slower than the quickest Williams—it would be damage limitation for Ferrari this weekend.
He made an average start, holding position, and settled in to run in the Kevin Magnussen-led train. A recovering Valtteri Bottas passed the Spaniard, so he entered the pit stop phase in eighth.
Sergio Perez's early stop dropped Alonso to ninth, then disaster. His energy-recovery system failed suddenly on the pit straight, forcing him to park up just past the first chicane.
It was a sad moment for fans of consistency—Alonso's 100 percent points-scoring record in 2014 was over. It was the last one left after Nico Hulkenberg's ended in Hungary.
He drops a spot to fourth.
3. Lewis Hamilton
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Up One
Lewis Hamilton put in a blistering banker lap of one minute, 24.109 seconds at the start of Q3. Team-mate Nico Rosberg couldn't match it on either of his runs, giving the Brit his first pole since May.
But everything went wrong off the grid. Hamilton's Mercedes suffered a software glitch, leaving him without the usual launch assist. Forced to do a fully manual start and hope for the best, he was lucky to enter Turn 1 in fourth position.
The title contender had a lot to do, and immediately set about trying to regain his place. First Kevin Magnussen, then Felipe Massa were dispatched.
After both made their only stop, Hamilton began to close on Rosberg. The German made an error under braking for Turn 1 and went straight on, and Hamilton took the lead.
He pulled out a gap and, despite having to manage his brakes late on, took the chequered flag by just over three seconds.
2. Valtteri Bottas
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No Change
Valtteri Bottas qualified in an excellent third place, a little over half a second shy of Lewis Hamilton's pole time and a few tenths clear of team-mate Felipe Massa.
Unfortunately for him, he was another driver whose hard work was wiped out when the lights went out on Sunday.
Technical issues meant Bottas' launch from the grid was so poor it didn't even register as a start on Williams' telemetry, and he found himself down in 11th by the end of the opening lap.
But he mounted a storming comeback, passing five cars before the pit stops and emerging in a net seventh. Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen and Sebastian Vettel fell to the flying Finn, but by this point Massa was too far down to the road.
Bottas came home a comfortable fourth.
He remains second.
1. Daniel Ricciardo
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No Change
Daniel Ricciardo didn't look entirely comfortable through practice, always appearing second-best of the Red Bull drivers. Team-mate Sebastian Vettel carried this momentum through to qualifying, putting his car in eighth.
Ricciardo was three tenths slower and started ninth.
Bad starts were a feature of all this week's Top Three's races—Ricciardo dropped to 12th off the line and was left with a mountain the climb.
He took a risk and stayed out long on his first set of tyres, emerging from the pits in a net 10th. What followed was a perfect example of why Ricciardo is now considered one of the sport's top rising stars.
The Australian steamed past four cars and began to close on Vettel. Fans were hoping for a good old-fashioned duel between the team-mates, but in the end it was a walkover. Vettel's tyres were nine laps older, and Ricciardo had little trouble taking fifth place.
Another first-rate recovery drive.
Ricciardo holds on to the lead.
As if often the case, these rankings have a strong element of opinion attached, so your views will probably differ to mine. Feel free to comment with your own rankings, or where you feel I went wrong.
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