Formula 1's Driver Power Rankings After 2015 United States Grand Prix
They say good things come to those who wait, but the 2015 United States Grand Prix proved that, in Formula One, good things come to those who stay on the track.
Lewis Hamilton was clear in the build-up to the race that he was in no rush to take the title, telling this writer he'd be happy as long as he had it wrapped up by Abu Dhabi.
But when Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg's late mistake opened the door, Hamilton seized the opportunity and swept by to win his 10th race of the season—and with it, a well-deserved third world championship.
It was business as usual behind him as Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel occupied the remaining spots on the podium. Max Verstappen's brilliant performance earned him 12 points for fourth, while Sergio Perez and Jenson Button will also have been happy with their results.
Carlos Sainz deserves praise for his recovery after a qualifying crash, and Daniel Ricciardo's solitary point for 10th was scant reward for a very impressive drive.
But Felipe Massa, Valtteri Bottas, Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen will be glad to see the back of the Circuit of the Americas.
The drivers get just a few days off before practice starts for the Mexican Grand Prix, with the race set to take place on November 1. Fortunately, it's only a short hop over the border to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.
As the famous old venue prepares to host its first grand prix since 1992, here's how the drivers rank.
Note on F1 Driver 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, each driver's overall performance 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 Russian Grand Prix and available here.
Honourable Mentions
1 of 11
Pastor Maldonado deserves a mention here. The man whose name will forever be linked to chaos and crashing kept his nose spotlessly clean while many around him were losing theirs. He wasn't especially quick, but still did enough to finish in the points for the third race in a row.
Alexander Rossi just missed out on the points, but his 12th-place finish equalled Manor's best of the season.
And Nico Hulkenberg drove very well until he hit Daniel Ricciardo. At first glance, it looked like an error, but the German's front wing failed as he went for the move. Without the front downforce he was expecting, he couldn't have avoided the collision.
10. Carlos Sainz Jr.
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New Entry
Carlos Sainz Jr. made a great recovery after a heavy crash in qualifying.
The incident came on just his third lap. Pushing hard as he entered Turn 3, the Spaniard put a wheel too far onto the inside kerb and lost control. His car slid off the track and into the barriers, but he was allowed to start from last place on the grid.
Team-mate Max Verstappen qualified 10th.
Sainz had a good opening lap, rising to 11th, and an early pass on Jenson Button moved him into the points. After also passing Nico Hulkenberg, he spent the opening stint involved in a great battle with Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen over seventh, eighth and ninth.
He ended up eighth after everyone had switched to slicks, but fell to 10th after pitting behind the first safety car. Another stop, this one behind the second safety car, set him up for a sprint to the end, and he soon got involved in some wheel-to-wheel action with Pastor Maldonado, Daniel Ricciardo and Button.
On Lap 49, Sainz produced a smart move to dive down the inside of Ricciardo into Turn 11. The Australian fought back on the straight that followed and looked like he had the inside line into Turn 12.
Sainz decided to defend but moved far too late, veering across the track very close to the braking zone; the two collided, allowing Button to pass both.
Ricciardo needed to pit again but Sainz survived unscathed. Though he was able to get back past Button a few laps from home, a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane (after his speed limiter didn't kick in) bumped the McLaren ahead again. Sainz was classified eighth.
He's a new entry in 10th.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 45
9. Valtteri Bottas
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Down Three
Valtteri Bottas had two suspension failures, one first-corner crash and left Austin with zero points.
He qualified 12th after suffering the first of his suspension problems at the end of Q2. Team-mate Felipe Massa was ninth fastest, and Bottas had insult added to injury by a grid penalty for changing his gearbox; he started 16th.
Bottas had a decent start and, in a bid to make up places early, went down the inside into Turn 1. Unfortunately for him, the gap he'd been aiming for closed, and he lost half his front wing on the back of Romain Grosjean's Lotus.
Forced to pit for repairs, the Finn dropped to the back of the field, and after five laps, his suspension failed again, putting him out of the race.
He falls three spots to ninth.
Rating: 6
Cumulative: 46
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8. Jenson Button
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Up One
Jenson Button secured his best result of the season and even got to have a proper race.
He qualified down in 14th, his best lap of 2:01.193 almost a second slower than team-mate Fernando Alonso's best. However, Button gained three places as a result of other drivers taking penalties and started the race from 11th.
Button made a fairly good start and successfully negotiated the first-corner melee sparked by Felipe Massa to end the opening lap in ninth. He was powerless to stop four quicker rivals overtaking on the straights, but a smart switch to slicks at just the right time—and a string of impressive laps—saw him move back up to a net 10th.
He stopped behind the first safety car and found himself in a rare, genuine fight for position with proper midfield runners. Button passed Sergio Perez and made up more places as the Red Bulls hit trouble to run as high as fifth.
A third stop when the second safety car emerged dropped him to eighth, and Carlos Sainz Jr. relegated him to ninth, but the 2009 world champion kept his head and was into seventh one lap later when the Spaniard and Daniel Ricciardo tangled.
Alonso's power loss elevated Button to sixth. Though Sainz overtook him again in the closing stages, a time penalty for the 21-year-old saw the British driver—who crossed the line in seventh—classified in sixth.
He's up one place to eighth.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 47
7. Fernando Alonso
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Up One
Fernando Alonso didn't get a chance to score the points his pace deserved.
He qualified 11th in the wet Sunday morning qualifying with a lap of 2:00.265. Team-mate Jenson Button was almost a full second slower, setting the 14th-fastest time. Alonso gained two grid slots as the Ferraris took their penalties and lined up in ninth.
A great start saw Alonso power into the first corner in seventh, but Felipe Massa—who he was trying to go around the outside of—lost control as he turned in. The front-right wheel of the Williams hit Alonso's rear-left, punting him into a spin and dropping him to the back of the field.
The Spaniard began to catch some of the midfield, but he was realistically out of the running until the first safety car emerged. This allowed him to pit for fresh rubber and rejoin at the back of the pack, quickly passing Pastor Maldonado and Carlos Sainz Jr. to take a points-paying position.
Sergio Perez was his next victim, and he gained two places as other cars hit trouble. Button's pit stop elevated Alonso to fifth behind the second safety car and it looked like he'd completed a remarkable recovery.
His McLaren-Honda, however, had other ideas.
A loss of power saw Alonso slide back through the field into 10th. The problem was eventually resolved with a handful of laps to go, but Daniel Ricciardo was still able to pass him on the final lap, leaving Alonso to finish 11th.
He's up one spot to seventh.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 47
6. Nico Rosberg
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Up Four
Nico Rosberg drove 54 very good laps of the Circuit of the Americas, but the race was 56 laps in length.
He took his third consecutive pole position with a time of 1:56.824, just over a tenth quicker than team-mate Lewis Hamilton's best.
Rosberg didn't get a perfect start and, as he climbed the hill toward Turn 1, he found Hamilton attacking down the inside. The German tried to hang on around the outside, but Hamilton wasn't in the mood to let him—pushed wide, he ended up down in fifth.
The move didn't go down well in Rosberg's helmet, and maybe it was a little bit aggressive. But he's no stranger to ruthless drivers, having partnered both Hamilton and Michael Schumacher, and he could probably have guessed it was coming.
Rosberg started his recovering by passing Sergio Perez to take fourth, and after the first virtual safety car, he pulled off a beautiful opportunistic move to take third from Daniel Ricciardo. Daniil Kvyat fell at the hairpin half a lap later and Rosberg was up to second.
However, Kvyat tried to take the place back four laps later; the Russian's optimistic lunge delayed Rosberg and allowed Ricciardo to overtake both. The Australian went on to take the lead from Hamilton and, as his team-mate struggled, Rosberg produced another great move to retake second.
After everyone switched to slicks, Rosberg passed Ricciardo and built a lead, but it was wiped out by the safety car. Stopping behind the virtual safety car gave him another cushion over Hamilton, but another full safety car wiped it out.
With 10 laps to go, Rosberg led Hamilton by the narrowest of margins, and we'll never know whether he would have stayed ahead had they battled on the track. As he exited Turn 15 on the 48th lap, Rosberg lit up his rear tyres and went wide at the following corner.
Hamilton breezed through and Rosberg, having seen his title hopes disappear, was left to hold off Sebastian Vettel to take second.
He's up four spots to sixth.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 48
5. Sergio Perez
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Down One
Sergio Perez once again outshone his team-mate and secured useful championship points.
He set the sixth-fastest time in qualifying, beating seventh-placed Nico Hulkenberg by a little over one-tenth of a second. Both Force Indias gained a grid slot after Sebastian Vettel's penalty.
Perez got a bit too much wheelspin off the line, but his wide line through the first corner gave him good pace at the exit. He passed Rosberg around the outside of Turn 2, but lost the place half a lap later and settled in to fifth.
The Mexican was able to hold off Sebastian Vettel on the damp track; however, Perez waited too long to switch to slicks and ended up down in ninth after his own stop.
He passed Carlos Sainz Jr. at his second stop, then opted to stay out for a marathon run to the end on a set of medium tyres. Seventh at the end of the second safety-car period, he quickly passed both McLarens and set off after Max Verstappen.
Sainz tried to come back at Perez in the closing stages, but the Force India man held on for his fifth points finish in the last six races.
He falls one place to fifth.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 51
4. Max Verstappen
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Up One
Max Verstappen equalled his best finish of the season with a beautiful wet and dry performance.
After team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr. crashed out of qualifying, Verstappen's lap of 2:00.199 was the 10th-fastest time in Q2. He gained two positions after the Ferraris took their penalties and lined up eighth on the grid.
Verstappen didn't get a great start but picked up a place in the first corner after Felipe Massa spun. Sebastian Vettel quickly pushed him back down to eighth, then a lap later, he was seventh again after overtaking Nico Hulkenberg.
The Dutchman then got involved in a close scrap with Kimi Raikkonen and team-mate Sainz. Autosport reported the pair touched at one point, and the Finn seemed displeased at times with the youngster's defending. But Verstappen, 18, stayed ahead and moved into sixth at the first round of stops.
He overtook the two Red Bulls after the first safety car to take fourth, and from then on, had a fairly quiet race. He chose to stay out on a set of soft tyres rather than make an extra stop and ran third after the second safety car, but Vettel quickly overtook.
However, Verstappen was able to look after his rubber well for the remaining laps and held off Sergio Perez to finish fourth.
He's up one place to the same position in our rankings.
Rating: 10
Cumulative: 51
3. Daniel Ricciardo
9 of 11
No Change
Daniel Ricciardo didn't get his just reward after a rough-and-tumble race of two halves.
He qualified third on the grid with a lap of 1:57.969. Team-mate Daniil Kvyat was half a slower but only one place behind in fourth.
Ricciardo made a good start and was able to slip past Nico Rosberg in Turn 1, but Kvyat carried more speed through Turn 2 and scythed past into second. Ricciardo remained third until the first virtual safety car; when it ended, Rosberg's opportunistic pass relegated him to fourth.
But the Australian looked the quickest of the leading four, and when Kvyat made a mistake trying to repass Rosberg into the final corner, Ricciardo overtook both in one fell swoop to move up to second. Three laps later, he took the lead, passing Hamilton with a brave move at the exit of Turn 18.
Ricciardo tried to extend his lead, but as the track dried, the Mercedes' came to the fore. After everyone switched to slicks, Rosberg and Hamilton both breezed past and Ricciardo was down to third.
Sebastian Vettel kicked him down to fourth, and Max Verstappen added salt to his wounds the following lap. The RB11 looked even slower than usual in a straight line—perhaps as a result of being set up for the wet—and Nico Hulkenberg had a go at Ricciardo one lap later.
The Force India man went down the inside, but his front wing failed at the worst possible time; without the downforce he was expecting, Hulkenberg slid into Ricciardo and damaged the RB11.
Ricciardo pitted behind the virtual safety car and looked to be making progress back up the order, but yet another collision—this time with Carlos Sainz Jr.—forced him to make a third stop. Having dropped to the back, he recovered to steal the final point from Fernando Alonso on the final lap.
Ricciardo stays third.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 51
2. Sebastian Vettel
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Down One
Sebastian Vettel recovered from a grid penalty to take his 12th podium of the season.
He qualified fifth in the shortened Sunday morning qualifying session, more than a second faster than team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. However, a grid penalty for taking a new engine dropped Vettel down to 13th on the grid.
The German didn't make a great start, but he did make a good observation. Seeing the mess up ahead created by Felipe Massa's spin, he scooted around the outside of the corner on the run-off area and ended the opening lap in seventh. Nico Hulkenberg was dispatched a lap later.
Sergio Perez proved too tough a nut to crack in the opening stint, but by switching to slicks at just the right time, Vettel moved up to fifth. He passed Daniil Kvyat a couple of laps later but fell back behind the Russian after stopping behind the first safety car.
However, on fresher tyres he passed both Red Bulls to take third.
The late second safety car put Vettel on the tail of the two Mercedes' for the final laps, but he was unable to get by either of them and crossed the line 3.4 seconds down on winner Lewis Hamilton.
He falls a spot to second.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 51
1. Lewis Hamilton
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Up One
Lewis Hamilton wrapped up his third world championship after a see-saw race.
He qualified second on the grid, beaten to pole by team-mate Nico Rosberg for the third race in a row. Hamilton's time of 1:56.929 was just over a tenth slower than Rosberg's best—but more than a second quicker than the third-placed driver.
Hamilton made a good start and was able to get down the inside of Rosberg into Turn 1. The German tried to hang on around the outside, but, as he did at Suzuka, Hamilton forced him off the track at the exit. Rosberg wasn't happy, but any top driver should and probably would have done exactly the same thing.
Daniil Kvyat pushed Hamilton hard in the early stages, the Red Bull clearly quicker at that part of the race, but the Brit held firm until the first virtual safety car. Rosberg overtook both the Bulls at the restart but the respite was only brief—Daniel Ricciardo was soon up to second and Hamilton was unable to hold him off.
Rosberg followed the Australian through, and after the order had shaken out following everyone's switches to slicks, Hamilton was down to fourth. He quickly overtook both Red Bulls and benefited from a safety car period to close back up to new leader Rosberg.
Hamilton looked quicker in the dry, but Mercedes' decision to not stop him behind the virtual safety car—as Rosberg pitted—looked to have wiped out any chance of a title-earning victory. But soon after, another safety car bunched the two W06s up again for a 10-lap battle to the finish.
The hoped-for scrap never materialised; Rosberg made a mistake, Hamilton swept by and the race as a contest was over. When the chequered flag fell, Hamilton cruised over the line to take his 10th win of a dominant season.
He rises back to the top of the rankings.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 54
Timing, penalty, qualifying and race data sourced from the FIA, the official F1 website and F1 Fanatic's lap charts.
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