Formula 1's Driver Power Rankings After 2015 Singapore Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel once again stood on a Mercedes-free podium after dominating the 2015 Formula One Singapore Grand Prix weekend.
The Ferrari driver qualified on pole, led every lap and won the race with relative ease. He missed out on the fastest lap (and a Grand Chelem) by just 0.028 seconds—Daniel Ricciardo took this honour on his way to second place.
Kimi Raikkonen was a disappointingly distant third, with Nico Rosberg coming home in fourth to cut the points gap to team-mate and championship rival Lewis Hamilton at the head of the standings.
But perhaps Rosberg needs to pay more attention to the man coming up behind. As for Hamilton, which German should he focus on in the final six races?
Further down the order we witnessed great drives from Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso, but only one of them scored the points they deserved. Sergio Perez continued his fine recent form with another top-10 finish, while Felipe Nasr and Carlos Sainz Jr. both scored for the first time since Monaco.
F1 debutant Alexander Rossi also deserves credit for beating Will Stevens in the battle of the Manors, but the likes of Nico Hulkenberg and Pastor Maldonado will have been glad to see the back of Marina Bay.
The drivers won't get their usual opportunity to take a break between rounds because the Japanese Grand Prix takes place this coming Sunday, September 27.
Many will already have arrived in the Land of the Rising Sun. As they prepare for the challenges of the beautiful Suzuka circuit, here's how they rank.
Note on Driver Power Rankings
These rankings should not be confused with the championship table.
Rather than looking solely at how many points each driver has, these rankings take into account race results, qualifying, the overall performance of each driver and how drivers stack up against their team-mates. The relative pace of each driver's car is factored in, as is the identity of his team-mate.
For each race weekend, every driver who took part is awarded a score out of 10. The sum of these scores across the previous six races is given on each driver's slide and determines the driver's ranking.
As we're more than six races into the season, drivers will be dropping points from races earlier in the year; this, coupled with a very tight field, may result in large fluctuations.
All position changes are relative to where the driver was in the previous set of rankings, published after the Italian Grand Prix and available here.
Honourable Mentions
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Felipe Nasr was back on top in the battle for supremacy at Sauber. Team-mate Marcus Ericsson has had the upper hand of late, but it was Nasr who got the job done in Singapore to score his first point since Monaco.
Carlos Sainz Jr. also drove well after a gearbox glitch dropped him down the order at the end of the first safety-car period.
But the true "honourable mention star of the weekend" was Alexander Rossi. He didn't quite hook it up in qualifying but finished ahead of Manor team-mate Will Stevens in his first-ever grand prix.
10. Valtteri Bottas
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Down Three
Valtteri Bottas made the most of some good fortune to finish higher than he might have thought possible.
The Finn qualified seventh, his quickest Q3 lap of 1:45.676 just under three-tenths of a second slower than Nico Rosberg's best in the Mercedes. Team-mate Felipe Massa was four-tenths back and started ninth.
Bottas made a good start and was ahead of Rosberg through Turn 1. However, the Mercedes man fought back and when Bottas got boxed in behind Lewis Hamilton at Turn 3, the German got back past.
The next 38 laps were relatively uneventful for Bottas; quicker than the cars behind, he never quite had enough pace to keep up with those ahead. But he still made up a place due to Hamilton's retirement—then Daniil Kvyat stopped on Lap 33.
The stop was very slow and Bottas, who stopped under the safety car four laps later, took full advantage. He emerged from the pit lane ahead of the Red Bull and—thanks in part to the Russian's curiously poor pace—kept the position all the way to the chequered flag to finish fifth.
Bottas had a good race, but falls three places to 10th.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 45
9. Felipe Massa
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Down Four
Felipe Massa failed to finish a race for the first time since the 2014 German Grand Prix.
He qualified in ninth place with a lap of 1:46.077. Had he equalled his Q2 time, he'd have started ninth. Team-mate Valtteri Bottas was seventh, four-tenths quicker.
A decent launch saw Massa make up a single place on the opening lap. He settled in behind Bottas but didn't quite have the Finn's pace and, when ninth-placed Nico Hulkenberg made an early first stop, Massa looked vulnerable to the undercut.
Williams called him in the following lap, and he came out of the pits half a car's length behind the Force India but with the inside line for Turn 3. Hulkenberg expected him to back out, while Massa—in line with normal F1 custom—expected to be given racing room.
Both cars turned in toward the same piece of tarmac; the resulting collision put Hulkenberg out of the race and left Massa with a slow puncture.
Forced to make an extra stop, the Brazilian was relegated to 14th, and when the safety car returned to the pits he found himself cooped up behind Pastor Maldonado. The Lotus eventually got out of the way when it pitted on Lap 27.
A lap later, Massa began to slow and retired soon after with a gearbox problem.
He falls four places to ninth.
Rating: 7
Cumulative: 46
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8. Nico Hulkenberg
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Down Five
Nico Hulkenberg's slump continued as he failed to finish at Marina Bay.
He qualified in 11th, less than a tenth of a second clear of 13th-placed team-mate Sergio Perez. It was the third time in the last four races he has missed out on Q3 by a single place.
A good start and a drop of bravery saw Hulkenberg make up two places by the end of the opening lap. His pace in the opening stint was reasonable—a shade quicker than Perez—but he wasn't able to keep up with the two Williams cars up ahead.
Force India decided to try the undercut to get him past at least one of them, and Hulkenberg made a fairly average pit stop on Lap 11. Felipe Massa was in the following lap; crucially, his entry-to-exit time was half a second slower than his rival's.
Massa was exiting the pits as Hulkenberg swept into Turn 1 and they were almost side-by-side going into Turn 3. Hulkenberg was half a car's length ahead and, deciding that was enough, he turned in on a near-normal line—but Massa was waiting on the apex.
The pair collided and Hulkenberg was pitched into the wall at the outside and into retirement. The German later got a grid-drop penalty for the next race and two points on his Super Licence.
Both driver and team later expressed surprise he wasn't given a chance to explain himself to the stewards, but it did look like his fault.
Hulkenberg hasn't been on good form since Ferrari announced they were keeping Kimi Raikkonen. He falls five spots to eighth.
Rating: 6
Cumulative: 46
7. Fernando Alonso
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New Entry
Fernando Alonso looked set to make McLaren's day but suffered an all-too-familiar fate.
He qualified 12th with a lap of 1:46.328, splitting the two Force Indias. He was slowed by yellow flags in the final sector, but he wasn't the only one. Team-mate Jenson Button was 15th, seven-tenths down on Alonso.
The Spaniard has a habit of making great starts but his Singapore getaway—which included a swerve to avoid Max Verstappen's stalled Toro Rosso—was only average. He overtook Romain Grosjean but lost a place to Sergio Perez and ended the first lap in 11th.
Alonso pitted just before the safety car, but lost precious seconds as he was held in the box and remained 11th at the restart. He managed to soak up some pressure from Pastor Maldonado before the Venezuelan pitted, and toward the end of the second stint Alonso was up to ninth.
It looked like he had a fairly good shot at scoring McLaren's first points since Hungary because he'd be moving to supersofts in the final stint, but it wasn't to be. A gearbox problem forced Alonso into retirement—a disappointing way to end a very impressive drive.
He's a new entry in seventh.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 47
6. Romain Grosjean
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Up Four
Romain Grosjean was left cursing the safety car after a pointless outing at Marina Bay.
His qualifying performance, when viewed alongside that of his Lotus team-mate, was truly worthy of praise. While Pastor Maldonado toiled to 18th on the grid, Grosjean somehow got his E23 into Q3. Even he admitted to being surprised—but ended up 10th after failing to match his Q2 time when it mattered the most.
When the lights went out, Grosjean had to instantly swerve to avoid Max Verstappen's stalled Toro Rosso. He got squeezed into Turn 1, lost places and ended the opening lap in 13th.
Lotus called him in for an early visit to the pits in an attempt to undercut the cars ahead. It paid off to a degree—he got ahead of Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz Jr.—but he missed out on a more-beneficial stop behind the safety car and going so far out of sync with the rest of the field would cost him dear later in the race.
Grosjean made his second stop on Lap 26 despite suffering no apparent loss of pace, seemingly opting for a three-stop strategy. Then the safety car emerged again on Lap 37 and rather than pit again, he stayed out.
Hindsight tells us this was the wrong call.
The Frenchman was eighth at the restart but had no life left in his tyres and was quickly overtaken by the two Toro Rossos. Felipe Nasr took the final points-paying position away from him on Lap 58; with no hope of a top-10 finish, he retired from the race to protect his gearbox.
Grosjean left Singapore with nothing but didn't drive at all badly. He rises four spots to sixth.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 47
5. Sergio Perez
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Up Four
Sergio Perez extended his points lead over his Force India team-mate with another solid drive.
The Mexican qualified 13th on the grid with a lap of 1:46.385. Nico Hulkenberg was less than a tenth quicker and started in 11th.
A good start saw Perez rise to 10th on the opening lap. He had a slightly hairy moment on the entry to Turn 8—as the field slowed, Perez braked a touch later than the rest and almost ran into the back of Hulkenberg's car. He recovered with a deft piece of car control and settled in behind his team-mate for the first stint.
Perez gained two places when Hulkenberg collided with Felipe Massa and when racing resumed he was in eighth. He had a quiet second stint, but as the race approached its conclusion he came under attack from the two supersoft-shod Toro Rossos.
Slower in the corners but quicker in a straight line, Perez seemed to easily soak up their pressure, didn't put a wheel wrong and protected his ageing rubber. He finished seventh to move nine points clear of Hulkenberg in the championship standings.
Perez rises four spots to fifth.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 47
4. Max Verstappen
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Up Two
Max Verstappen had a weekend of extremes on his way to a battling eighth.
He made it through to Q3 for the sixth time in 2015 and qualified eighth with a time of 1:45.798. Toro Rosso team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr. started 14th after a brush with the wall in Q2.
Unfortunately, Verstappen undid all his hard work when he stalled on the grid. Anti-stall should have prevented this being as bad as it was, but it failed to kick in. By the time he'd been pushed off the grid and the car had been restarted, he was a lap down and in last place.
He immediately set about showing how quick he could go, lapping consistently quicker than Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes. It still looked unlikely that he'd be able to salvage anything from the race—but then the safety car came out.
Allowed to unlap himself from the whole field, Verstappen was still 30 seconds down on second-to-last placed Sainz (who had just suffered a gearbox glitch) when the racing got under way again. But in clean air he was able to gradually cut the gap and start to climb through the rear of the midfield.
The second and final safety car came at the perfect time. Toro Rosso took a small gamble and put Verstappen on the supersoft tyres—everyone bar Sainz and the two Manors were on the slower softs—for a controlled, 25-lap sprint to the flag.
The gamble paid off and Verstappen, 12th at the restart, was able to pass four cars in the final stint to re-take the position he'd started in. After a brief disagreement on the radio over team-orders, that's where he finished.
Where might he have ended up if he hadn't stalled?
Verstappen rises two places to fourth.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 49
3. Lewis Hamilton
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Down One
Lewis Hamilton was hit by a terminal reliability issue for the first time all year.
He qualified a season-worst fifth, but the car wasn't quick enough to be higher up the grid. Though almost 1.5 seconds down on polesitter Vettel, Hamilton was a little over a tenth quicker than Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, who started sixth.
A decent start saw Hamilton hold fifth into Turn 1. He had a small scare in Turn 2 when he had to take evasive action to avoid Daniil Kvyat's slow Red Bull, but survived unscathed. Though unable to match the leading four, he did at least steadily pull away from sixth-placed Rosberg.
Stopping under the first safety car—initially virtual, then full—worked in Hamilton's favour, moving him ahead of Kvyat into fourth. At the restart he managed to keep in touch with the top three, despite having the slower, soft tyres on.
He'd be able to take the quicker supersofts in his final stint, and without further safety cars he could perhaps have challenged Kimi Raikkonen for third in the closing stages. But he suddenly began to slow and, after falling to the rear of the field, retired from the race.
The problem was later diagnosed as a failure of a minor—but clearly important—part.
It was his first mechanical DNF since Canada in 2014. But with Rosberg only finishing fourth, could it really have come at a better time?
Hamilton has more rankings points than anyone for the season as a whole, but falls one spot to third.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 49
2. Daniel Ricciardo
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Up Two
Daniel Ricciardo will have been happy with second—but he was painfully close to a win.
He qualified second on the grid, more than half a second down on polesitter Sebastian Vettel. Red Bull team-mate Daniil Kvyat was fourth, more than three-tenths slower.
As has usually been the case of late, Ricciardo had a decent getaway off the line and was staring at the rear of Vettel's car going into Turn 1. A lap later, he staring at clean air as Vettel stormed into a three-second lead.
Ricciardo watched the gap grow over the opening few laps, but was perhaps managing his tyres. The gap stabilised, then began to fall as tyre wear started to play a part.
The first safety car saw the gap fall back to less than a second and Ricciardo initially stuck with his former team-mate after the restart. Vettel chose his moment to put the hammer down and Ricciardo didn't immediately respond; by the time he did, the gap was up to four seconds.
Another safety car meant the Australian again missed out on the opportunity to make the most of having a little more life in his tyres, and Vettel seemed to control final stint. Ricciardo closed up on the last lap but realistically never looked likely to overtake.
After a brief challenge from Kvyat, Ricciardo has rediscovered his 2014 form and appears to be reasserting himself as the team leader at Red Bull.
He rises two places to second.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 51
1. Sebastian Vettel
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No Change
Sebastian Vettel put himself back into the world-title mix with a vintage Singapore drive.
He qualified on pole with a blistering lap of 1:43.885, 0.543 seconds quicker than second-placed Daniel Ricciardo and nearly eight-tenths clear of Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who started third.
A good start saw Vettel comfortably convert his pole into the race lead. During his years of dominance with Red Bull, Vettel gained a reputation for putting in super-quick opening laps—and he was at it again at Marina Bay. When the cars came round to complete their first tour, Vettel was 3.034 seconds ahead of Ricciardo.
He built up a small but useful margin over the Red Bull man, but as the stint wore on Ricciardo began to edge closer. The emergence of the safety car meant we never got to see if Vettel could have responded; the second stint followed a similar pattern—and again the safety car ruined it.
When the only Mercedes to lead the race returned to the pits for the second time, Vettel again built a small gap and was unchallenged all the way to the flag.
It was like we'd all gone back in time to 2013.
Vettel remains in the top spot.
Rating: 10
Cumulative: 52
Penalty, qualifying, timing and race data used throughout sourced from the FIA, the official F1 website and F1 Fanatic's lap charts.
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