Formula 1's Driver Power Rankings After 2015 Austrian Grand Prix
It was a tale of two Nicos as Formula One's 2015 Austrian Grand Prix saw the world title race explode back into life.
Nico Rosberg produced his most dominant display of the season to put team-mate Lewis Hamilton firmly in the shade. The points gap between the two championship contenders is now just 10 points with 11 races to go.
Nico Hulkenberg also put in his best performance for a long time to take sixth for Force India.
With Kimi Raikkonen coming under increasing pressure at Ferrari following another disappointing outing, the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans winner may have chosen just the right moment to throw his hat firmly into the ring as a potential replacement.
The drivers have a two-week break to rest up and prepare for the British Grand Prix on July 5.
Here's how they currently 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 and ability 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.
As we're now more than six races into the season, drivers will start 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 Canadian Grand Prix and available here.
Honourable Mentions
1 of 11
Kimi Raikkonen falls out of the rankings after a terrible Austrian weekend. He was eliminated in Q1 and crashed out on the opening lap—it doesn't get much worse than that.
Two drivers have the same number of points as the final three in the rankings. Felipe Nasr's good qualifying performance looked set to pay off before braking trouble saw him slide down into 11th, while Daniel Ricciardo recovered well from a grid penalty to snatch a single point.
10. Fernando Alonso
2 of 11
Down One
Fernando Alonso can at least take solace from the fact his car didn't break down.
On a circuit highly dependant on power, he qualified 15th—six-tenths away from making it through to Q3. Team-mate Jenson Button was 17th, having lapped a little over a tenth slower than Alonso in Q1.
He started 19th after taking as much of a 25-place grid penalty for changing power unit components as was possible. There'd also be a drive-through waiting for him in the race—but he didn't get a chance to take it.
Alonso made a blistering start, moving up to 14th by the time he braked for Turn 2. Unfortunately this put him right behind Kimi Raikkonen as both accelerated out of the corner.
Raikkonen lost control and swerved across the track, collecting Alonso and taking both cars into the barrier. The terrifying crash took both out of the race.
Alonso drops a spot to 10th.
Rating: 7
Cumulative: 44
9. Max Verstappen
3 of 11
Down One
Max Verstappen claimed his second points finish of the year at a circuit that shouldn't have suited his car.
He qualified seventh with a time of one minute, 9.612 seconds—the quickest of all the Renault runners. Team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr. was down in 13th.
Verstappen had a good opening lap, overtaking Valtteri Bottas before the safety car emerged. He kept the Williams behind for a few laps after it returned to the pits, but in the end the Mercedes-powered FW37 was just too quick.
A quite early switch to soft tyres saw the Dutchman drop to 11th, but he was soon back to seventh after overtaking both the Red Bulls. Toward the end he came under pressure from Pastor Maldonado, the two having a great battle before Verstappen ran wide a few laps from home.
He finished eighth, a fine result at this kind of circuit, and falls one spot to ninth.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 44
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8. Carlos Sainz Jr.
4 of 11
Down Two
Carlos Sainz Jr. suffered his second car failure of the season at the Red Bull Ring.
Having looked so strong when the circuit was at its wettest, he qualified a disappointing 13th after encountering traffic in Q2. Team-mate Max Verstappen demonstrated the STR10's potential with seventh on the grid.
Sainz rose a spot due to Daniil Kvyat's penalty, and a great opening lap saw him up to ninth by the time the safety car emerged. He was quicker than Felipe Nasr ahead, but the Sauber's superior straight-line speed meant a move never materialised.
He remained behind the Sauber through the pit stop phase, but four laps after leaving his box the car lost power. Sainz soldiered on for a few laps before the team called it a day on Lap 35.
Sainz can at least look forward to the British Grand Prix, where the Toro Rosso should go well. He falls two spots to eighth.
Rating: 7
Cumulative: 44
7. Nico Hulkenberg
5 of 11
New Entry
Nico Hulkenberg carried over his excellent sports car form to score his and Force India's best result of the year.
He put in an excellent lap of 1:09.278 to qualify fifth, less than a tenth of a second shy of a second-row spot. Team-mate Sergio Perez was hampered by traffic and could do no better than 16th.
Hulkenberg got off the line well and retained fifth, a position he held until Valtteri Bottas powered through on Lap 25. Force India used the undercut at the pit stop round to get their man back ahead of the Williams, but again Bottas overtook.
The German managed to hang on to the FW37's tail for a few laps and, though eventually dropped, he remained more than quick enough to stay clear of the cars behind and finished sixth.
It's difficult to see anything he could have done better in either of the weekend's competitive sessions, and this has to be considered his best race of the year.
Hulkenberg is a new entry in seventh.
Rating: 10
Cumulative: 45
6. Sergio Perez
6 of 11
Up Four
Sergio Perez was outshone by his team-mate at a circuit that should have suited his style.
He qualified down in 16th after failing to get a clean lap in in Q1. Team-mate Nico Hulkenberg showed what might have been by sticking his VJM08 on the third row; Perez at least had the consolation of starting 13th due to penalties for other drivers.
Perez made up a couple of positions at the start then sneaked past Romain Grosjean after the safety car phase to climb into the points-paying places. Having started on the slower soft compound tyres, his pace wasn't good, but the straight-line speed of his Mercedes-powered car was enough to keep the two quicker Lotuses behind.
He ran longer than those who started on the super-softs, and a slow pit stop didn't impact too much on his track position. Perez made the most of his new tyres' grip to steam past Daniil Kvyat and Marcus Ericsson before rising to ninth when Daniel Ricciardo pitted.
That's where he remained all the way to the chequered flag.
Despite not having a standout weekend, Perez is up four spots to sixth as the drivers drop their scores from Malaysia.
Rating: 7
Cumulative: 46
5. Valtteri Bottas
7 of 11
Down Two
Valtteri Bottas scored his first-ever F1 podium in Austria in 2014 but failed to shine this time around.
Yellow flags brought out by Nico Rosberg's error at the end of Q3 ruined the Finn's best lap. He ended up sixth on the grid with a lap of 1:09.319; team-mate Felipe Massa was fourth, outqualifying Bottas for the fifth time in 2015.
A difficult opening lap saw Bottas overtaken by Max Verstappen on the run out of Turn 2. Though clearly quicker than the Toro Rosso, he spent several laps behind the youngster before powering through on Lap 15.
Bottas then set about catching Nico Hulkenberg, dispatching him almost instantly. However, Force India then pitted their man—the undercut saw him come back out ahead of Bottas.
The Williams driver got back past soon after and enjoyed a quiet run to the flag, coming home in fifth.
Bottas is down two places to fifth.
Rating: 7
Cumulative: 46
4. Felipe Massa
8 of 11
No Change
Felipe Massa returned to the podium for the first time in 2015.
A good lap in the final part of qualifying saw Massa qualify fourth, a little under three-tenths down on third-placed Sebastian Vettel. Team-mate Valtteri Bottas was sixth.
Massa got off the line well and had a sniff down the inside of Vettel into Turn 1 before deciding against a move and slotting into fourth. His FW37 didn't quite have the pace to live with the Ferrari in the opening stint, but Massa didn't fall too far behind.
This would be his ticket to the podium.
Vettel encountered trouble at his one and only stop, losing 10 seconds due to a problem fitting his rear-right wheel. Massa needed no invitation to slip by into third—but the place was by no means guaranteed.
The Brazilian managed to maintain a gap to his rival for the first half of the final stint, but he came under pressure late on. Massa held his nerve, and though Vettel had nine laps in DRS range, he couldn't find a way past. The pair crossed the line less than a second apart.
Massa remains fourth after a great weekend.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 47
3. Nico Rosberg
9 of 11
Up Two
Nico Rosberg put his single-lap woes behind him and gave us a hint there might just be a proper title race after all.
Though the German looked to have a clear edge over Lewis Hamilton all weekend, he ended up second on the grid after a final-corner error on his quickest Q3 lap. He has now been outqualified by his team-mate seven times in eight races.
Usually this has translated to being beaten in the races; not this time.
Rosberg made a better start and jumped Hamilton off the line to take the lead. The Brit fought back but Rosberg held firm into the braking zones of Turns 2 and 3—from then on, he was never threatened.
He pulled out a small gap to Hamilton and calmly controlled the race. The only area of concern was a vibration on his front-right tyre a few laps from the end, but it proved only a minor inconvenience as Rosberg crossed the line to win a race he dominated.
If he can start getting it right on Saturdays, we might have a real battle on our hands.
Rosberg is up two places to third.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 47
2. Sebastian Vettel
10 of 11
No Change
Sebastian Vettel encountered more car trouble but did well after a tough Friday.
He qualified third on the grid, less than four-tenths down on pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton. Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen had been eliminated in Q1.
A reasonable start saw Vettel hold off a half-hearted attack from Felipe Massa into Turn 1 to retain third, and he seemed set for a fairly dull race. The two W06s ahead were clearly quicker, while Massa's fourth-placed Williams couldn't quite keep up.
But a problem with his right-rear tyre in the pits cost Vettel 10 seconds—and Massa swept by into third.
Vettel tried to close up but it took him far longer than he might have liked. He didn't get his rival into DRS range until Lap 63, and though he tried to push Massa into a mistake, the Brazilian held on. Vettel finished fourth.
As in Canada, issues with the car let Vettel down—but as it's usually a very good car, he can't be too upset. He remains second.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 48
1. Lewis Hamilton
11 of 11
No Change
Lewis Hamilton had arguably his worst race since 2013 as his title lead was cut to just 10 points.
Having never quite looked as quick as team-mate Nico Rosberg, Hamilton pulled a lap out of the bag in Q3 to take provisional pole. He went out again to try to better the time, but he spun at Turn 1; fortunately for him, Rosberg also went off on his own final attempt and Hamilton started from pole.
But this advantage lasted just a few metres. The defending champion blamed a clutch issue for his poor start, but whatever the cause, he got too much wheelspin, allowing Rosberg take the lead into Turn 1.
Hamilton tried to fight back but had to settle for second.
As the race went on, it became clear he didn't have the pace to stay with Rosberg, and it got worse when he ran over the white line at the pit exit, earning a five-second time penalty.
After this it seemed both Mercedes' eased off, and Hamilton crossed the line 3.8 seconds down.
It was his worst outing of the season, but he remains in the top spot.
Rating: 6
Cumulative: 51
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