Formula 1's Driver Power Rankings After 2015 Monaco Grand Prix
The 2015 Monaco Grand Prix will not be remembered as an action-packed affair, but it did at least feature a number of great drives for fans to appreciate.
Lewis Hamilton did everything right and looked on course for a dominant win before a strategy error by Mercedes dropped him to third. Sergio Perez also put in a flawless display; the Mexican was rewarded with six points for seventh.
But the driver taking most of the headlines coming out of the weekend was Max Verstappen. Had he stuck to providing us with some excitement in the form of clean overtaking, he may now be celebrating a hard-earned points finish.
Unfortunately, his 63rd-lap collision with Romain Grosjean took the shine off what had, to that point, been a fine afternoon.
Overtaking should be easier for everyone at the next race—Montreal's Canadian Grand Prix. Here's how the drivers rank as they get ready for their first Atlantic crossing of the season.
Note on Power Rankings
These rankings should not be confused with the championship table.
Rather than looking solely at how many points each driver has, they take into account race results, qualifying, the overall performance of each driver and how he stacks up against his team-mates. The relative pace of each driver's car is factored in, as is the identity of his team-mate.
For each race, 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.
All position changes are relative to where the driver was in the previous set of rankings, published after the Spanish Grand Prix and available here.
Honourable Mentions
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Daniil Kvyat drove a fine race to record his best-ever finishing position, fourth. Few drivers needed a good result as much as the Russian, and this one should ease some of the pressure that was starting to build.
Roberto Merhi also deserves a mention—he beat team-mate Will Stevens to the chequered flag for the first time this year. A sympathetic nod too for Pastor Maldonado, who saw a good chance for his first points of the season taken away by a braking problem.
Valtteri Bottas and Romain Grosjean have the same number of points as the 10th-placed driver but miss out on this occasion.
10. Sergio Perez
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New Entry
Sergio Perez produced his best drive of the season to score six valuable points for Force India.
He qualified a surprising and impressive seventh on the grid at a circuit that wasn't expected to suit his car. His lap of one minute, 16:808 seconds was quicker than both Toro Rossos and within a second of the quickest Ferrari.
Perez held seventh at the start and had a fairly uneventful afternoon—but his race pace was just as impressive as his qualifying effort, proving Saturday was no fluke.
The Mexican didn't lose a lot of ground to the leading three teams—he was just 17 seconds down on fourth-placed Daniil Kvyat when the safety car came out on Lap 64—and no one cruised up to his gearbox.
He finished where he started at a season-best of seventh and deserves all the credit in the world for a very strong display. He couldn't have done more.
Rating: 10
Cumulative: 43
9. Daniel Ricciardo
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Up One
Daniel Ricciardo finished behind his team-mate but still scored his best result of the year.
He qualified in fourth with a time of 1:16.041. He later revealed he thought third was possible, saying on the team website that he was hampered on his final run by a "miscommunication from the pit wall."
At the start, Ricciardo got off the line well and attacked Sebastian Vettel on the outside, but Daniil Kvyat took the inside line and slid through, relegating Ricciardo to fifth. Kimi Raikkonen pushed him down to sixth at the pit stop round.
It looked like that was where he was going to finish, but the late-race safety car provided an opportunity for Ricciardo to pit for fresh super-soft tyres. Utilising their superior grip after the restart, he dived down the inside of Raikkonen into Mirabeau on Lap 72.
Using his front-left wheel to tap Raikkonen's right-rear and nudge him out of the way seemed just as naughty as what Fernando Alonso did to Nico Hulkenberg, but it appears that the outcome for the victim, not the "crime" itself, was the bigger factor for the stewards.
The Australian was through and would receive no penalty.
He was then waved past his team-mate to have a go at the leading three but was unable to get past and fell back behind Kvyat at the chequered flag to finish fifth.
Ricciardo rises a place to ninth.
Rating: 7
Cumulative: 43
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8. Carlos Sainz Jr.
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Up One
Carlos Sainz Jr. recovered well from a harsh penalty to score a point for Toro Rosso.
The Spaniard set the eighth-fastest time in qualifying but missed the red light signalling he needed to stop off at the weighbridge during Q1. He told the press that the light was in a difficult-to-see location, but the stewards showed no mercy—kicked out of qualifying, he was forced to start from the pit lane.
This put him in last place, but after two laps he was up to 16th. Finding himself stuck behind slower cars, Sainz was called into the pits on Lap 12 for a fresh set of soft tyres.
The undercut didn't pay off, and he remained stuck behind the same cars, but as the race went on, he began to gradually make up places as drivers ahead either made second stops or encountered problems.
Following the safety car period he found himself in 10th place, and Sainz remained there until the end—completing a huge 66-lap stint on the soft tyres—to claim a well-earned point.
Sainz is up one to eighth.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 44
7. Felipe Massa
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Down Two
Felipe Massa had a nightmare on the streets of Monte Carlo.
Previously an ever-present figure in Q3, Massa qualified 14th on the grid. Though his worst grid slot of the season, it was at least better than team-mate Valtteri Bottas managed; the Finn was 17th.
Massa was promoted to 12th after other drivers had served grid penalties, but his race was ruined in the first corner. He said on the team website:
"Today was a very frustrating day and a race to forget for us. My race was effectively over in Turn 1, with another car pushing me over and I was left with a lot of damage to my tyre and front wing. The pit stop I had to make on Lap 1 put me right at the back of the pack and I spent the rest of the race looking out for blue flags.
"
Almost 85 seconds down after a single lap, Massa never got the chance to race anyone but himself. His pace was never great, tyre management proved difficult and he finished 15th—last of all bar the two Manors.
Massa is down two places after what is likely to be Williams' worst race of the year.
Rating: 6
Cumulative: 44
6. Felipe Nasr
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Up Two
Felipe Nasr again led the way for Sauber to claim his third points finish of the year.
Qualifying was a disappointment for both the Swiss team's drivers. Both were eliminated in Q1, but Nasr was the quickest of the two by four-tenths of a second.
He started 14th after other drivers took penalties and was up to 12th by the end of the opening lap. From here on in, attrition was his ally—the retirements of Pastor Maldonado and Fernando Alonso gave him a position apiece, and Max Verstappen's long pit stop moved him up further still.
But his pace was also good. Though he had no hope of keeping up with the quicker cars ahead, Nasr built himself enough of a gap to those behind that he was able to afford a precautionary stop for fresh super-softs under the safety car.
The new rubber cemented his position, and he came home in ninth.
A very impressive showing from Nasr, who rises two spots to sixth and has yet to finish a race behind team-mate Marcus Ericsson.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 45
5. Max Verstappen
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Up One
Max Verstappen had a difficult weekend in Monaco.
After impressing during Thursday practice, Verstappen made it through to Q3 for the third time in his career. He set the 10th-fastest time, two-hundredths of a second slower than team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr.
However, Verstappen started ahead—in ninth—after Sainz was kicked out of the session.
The Dutchman held the place at the start but found himself stuck behind the ailing Lotus of Pastor Maldonado. Rather than wait for his rival to retire, Verstappen decided to attack and squeezed by into St. Devote on Lap 6.
By Lap 28 he had closed the gap to Sergio Perez and pitted with a view to an undercut. It probably would have succeeded, but a problem with his right-rear wheel cost Verstappen almost half a minute. He emerged down in 13th and had no desire to stay there.
After another stop to go back onto the super-soft tyres, Verstappen cruised up to the rear of Valtteri Bottas. Unable to pass through conventional means, he showed brilliant cunning to stick to Sebastian Vettel's gearbox and followed the Ferrari through when Bottas moved aside to be lapped.
He tried to do the same to Romain Grosjean, but the Lotus man was wise to it—so Verstappen attempted a move at the same spot he had overtaken Maldonado.
Unfortunately he misjudged the attempt, hitting Grosjean's rear before spearing into the barriers. The error earned him a five-place grid penalty for the next race and two points on his super licence.
Verstappen's overtakes provided some rare highlights in an exceptionally uneventful race. Unfortunately, the race-ending crash removed some of the gloss.
Rating: 7
Cumulative: 45
4. Kimi Raikkonen
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Down One
Kimi Raikkonen again failed to get the job done in qualifying—and paid for it in the race.
He could only manage sixth on the grid with a time of 1:16.427. Team-mate Sebastian Vettel was third, a whopping six-tenths of a second faster.
Raikkonen remained sixth at the start as the two Red Bulls switched places ahead of him. With zero opportunities to overtake, he spent the opening part of the race staring at Daniel Ricciardo's rear wing.
The Finn's opportunity came at the pit stop round; though Ricciardo stopped a lap earlier, Raikkonen's quick in-lap (coupled with some great pit work from Ferrari) saw him come out ahead.
It looked like things would stay this way to the end, but the late safety car threw a spanner in the works. Ricciardo stopped for fresh super-soft tyres and forced his way past Raikkonen on Lap 72.
It was by no means a clean move, but the stewards decided it was OK, and the Ferrari man was back down to sixth. That's where he finished.
With six drivers separated by a single point, Raikkonen drops a place to fourth.
Rating: 6
Cumulative: 45
3. Nico Rosberg
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Up One
Nico Rosberg grabbed the luckiest victory of his career to add his name to the list of three-time Monaco winners.
He qualified in second place with a time of 1:15.440. It was just over three-tenths slower than team-mate Lewis Hamilton's best but comfortably clear of third-placed man Sebastian Vettel.
At the start, Rosberg followed Hamilton through Turn 1 and settled into second with his red-clad countryman close behind. The gap to Hamilton remained at around three seconds until the leading group began to encounter traffic, at which point the Brit pulled away.
With the pit stop round approaching, Rosberg built a small gap to Vettel behind him and successfully defended against an attempted undercut. The gap to Hamilton continued to grow—but then came Lap 63.
Max Verstappen crashed, the safety car came out, Mercedes dropped the ball and Rosberg found himself in the lead. With enough life left in his tyres to easily repel Vettel at the restart, he breezed around the final few racing laps for his third successive Monaco win.
A win's a win, and many believe a driver makes his own luck. But Rosberg looked further away from Hamilton here than at any other race this year—at a circuit on which he usually excels.
He's up one to third.
Rating: 6
Cumulative: 45
2. Sebastian Vettel
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No Change
Sebastian Vettel was once again the main challenger to Mercedes' dominance.
He qualified in third, maintaining his record of starting every race on the front two rows of the grid. However, he was a little further behind pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton than he might have liked—eight-tenths of a second.
Vettel got a reasonable start, and after defending from the two Red Bulls, he was able to attack Nico Rosberg into the first corner. Though he had the inside line, the rear of his car stepped out at a crucial moment, and Rosberg remained ahead.
He settled into the usual Monaco rhythm of watching the car ahead, unable to mount any sort of attack. The gap between Vettel and Rosberg was around two seconds, fluctuating as they sliced through lapped traffic.
Had Ferrari pitted Vettel when the gap was smaller, he might have had a shot at a successful undercut; unfortunately for him, they didn't. The gap was smaller when Rosberg emerged from his own stop, but a pass was never on.
Third looked likely, but Mercedes' botched strategy call saw Vettel leapfrog Lewis Hamilton. When the safety car returned to the pits, Vettel held off the championship leader for the remaining laps to take second.
Another very strong drive, and another podium for Vettel. He remains second.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 50
1. Lewis Hamilton
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No Change
The statistics say Lewis Hamilton was third-best at Monaco. The reality says something else entirely.
Hamilton took his first Monaco pole with a lap of 1:15.098, more than three-tenths quicker than team-mate Nico Rosberg's best.
He converted pole into the race lead at the start and from then on wasn't troubled. Decisive in traffic and quicker than Rosberg in clean air, Hamilton built up a lead of almost 20 seconds by the end of Lap 63.
Then everything fell apart.
Max Verstappen ran into the rear of Romain Grosjean, prompting a brief period of virtual safety car running followed by the emergence of the real thing. Mercedes pulled Hamilton in for what was supposed to be a precautionary stop—but they got their sums wrong.
Instead of emerging in the lead, Hamilton came out in third. He attacked Sebastian Vettel at the restart, but despite having fresher rubber, he couldn't risk a Daniel Ricciardo-style dive-bomb on the Ferrari and remained third until the end.
His performance was worthy of the dominant victory he was heading toward before Verstappen's crash. The 15 points he received were scant reward.
Rating: 10
Cumulative: 54
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