Formula 1's Driver Power Rankings After 2015 Russian Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton has moved to within a hair's breadth of his third Formula One world championship with victory at the 2015 Russian Grand Prix. But it was his team-mate, Nico Rosberg, who very much held the upper hand in Sochi.
The German was quickest in all three parts of qualifying and took a dominant pole position, three-tenths quicker than Hamilton. A robust and calm defence into the first corner saw him lead in the early stages, but the world of motor racing can be a very cruel place.
Having performed beautifully under pressure, Rosberg was forced out of a race he needed to win—and probably would have won—with a failed throttle damper.
Valtteri Bottas was also dealt a poor hand, losing what would have been a well-earned podium thanks to Kimi Raikkonen's rookie-esque last-lap lunge.
But for every action there is a reaction, and their retirements opened the door for other drivers to be rewarded for top-class drives. Sergio Perez may have rode his luck to score Force India's first podium of the season, but it was no more than he deserved.
Jenson Button also benefited, taking a fine ninth-place finish in his McLaren.
Thirty years ago, a fleet of 20 precision-engineered, winged vehicles flying from Russia to North America may have raised an alarm or two, but the drivers and their cars will be welcomed when they arrive in Austin for the United States Grand Prix on October 25th.
Until then, here's how the drivers rank.
Note on F1 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, 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 Japanese Grand Prix and available here.
Honourable Mentions
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Felipe Nasr was one of the drivers of the weekend in Sochi, though we rarely saw him on our screens. The Brazilian qualified 12th to team-mate Marcus Ericsson's 17th and drove an excellent race to finish sixth.
Carlos Sainz Jr also deserves a special mention. He missed qualifying after a heavy crash in third practice but was allowed to start from the back of the grid. From there, he gradually picked his way through the field and was seventh with 10 laps to go. Unfortunately, his race was then ended by a brake failure.
10. Nico Rosberg
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New Entry
Nico Rosberg caught a curse from the Bad Luck Fairy at the worst possible moment.
He qualified on pole for only the third time in 2015 with a lap of one minute, 1:37.113. It was three-tenths quicker than team-mate Lewis Hamilton's best.
Rosberg made a reasonable start, but pole at Sochi isn't necessarily a good thing. His Mercedes punched an inviting hole in the air on the long run down to the first braking zone, and Hamilton took advantage.
The Brit attacked around the outside into Turn 2, but Rosberg held his nerve—and the inside line—to emerge ahead.
Rosberg's race was almost ended around 15 seconds later; at the exit of Turn 4, he slowed dramatically in response to the safety car being deployed. Hamilton had to lock a wheel to stay out of Rosberg's diffuser, while Kimi Raikkonen had to swerve to avoid taking both Mercedes out.
But he was only granted a temporary reprieve. Rosberg's throttle pedal began to stick, and soon after the safety car had returned to the pits, it pushed him wide into Turn 2. Hamilton swept by into the lead, and the German was forced to pit at the end of the lap to retire.
Rosberg was under huge pressure to perform and did everything right in his bid to stay in the title hunt. Blows don't come much crueller than this.
He's a new entry in 10th.
Rating: 10
Cumulative: 45
9. Jenson Button
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Up One
Jenson Button deserved his points but needed a little bit of luck to score them.
The 2009 world champion qualified an admirable 13th on the grid. His lap of 1:39.763 was good enough to beat two Mercedes-engined cars at a circuit with high power demands. Team-mate Fernando Alonso was four-tenths slower and went out in Q1.
Button made a good start and took to the run-off area at Turn 2 to avoid the melee caused by Nico Hulkenberg's spin. He was ninth at the end of the opening lap but was powerless—quite literally—to stop a string of rivals overtaking as soon as the first safety car came in.
He was later quoted by F1i's Julien Billiotte estimating his straight-line speed deficit to some rivals to be in the region of 45 kilometres per hour.
Button pitted behind the second safety car and emerged in 13th. From there, he picked up positions as others hit trouble, and though he was overtaken by the likes of Felipe Nasr and Pastor Maldonado, he made it to the line in ninth.
The race won't make it into his career highlights DVD, but purely from a driving perspective, it was one of his best outings of the season.
He's up one spot to ninth.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 46
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8. Fernando Alonso
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Down Four
Fernando Alonso had arguably his worst weekend of the season and cost himself a rare points finish.
Having tested Honda's newly upgraded power unit on Friday, the Spaniard reverted to an old-spec unit for qualifying and could only set the 16th-fastest time. Team-mate Jenson Button was four-tenths quicker, and started 13th.
Alonso was relegated to 19th by grid penalties and didn't have the best of starts. He was still 19th at the entry to Turn 2, but by going over the run-off area to avoid the trouble ahead, he gained a few places and ended the opening lap in 13th.
His weak Honda engine left him unable to defend again quicker cars behind and—despite two retirements up ahead—he was 14th after pitting behind the second safety car. This approach worked well for some, but as Alonso had started on the soft tyres, he'd have to do a mammoth 40-lap stint on the super-soft tyres.
That he was able to do this in a car that isn't especially kind to its rubber was quite remarkable. Alonso spent his whole second stint within a few seconds of Button, but while doing this, he was taking liberties over the inside kerbs of Turn 16.
He received a warning to stop cutting the corner, transmitted to him by the team, but he carried on doing it. The Spaniard crossed the line in 10th and looked to have secured a point, but a five-second time penalty for continuing to violate the track-limits dropped him down to 11th.
The great tyre management was the only standout part of an otherwise poor weekend.
Alonso falls four places to eighth.
Rating: 6
Cumulative: 47
7. Romain Grosjean
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Down One
Romain Grosjean, in a roundabout way, did more than anyone to make the Russian Grand Prix exciting.
The Frenchman extended his run of Q3 appearances to six races, qualifying eighth with a lap of 1:38.787. It would be fair to say he outdrove the car—team-mate Pastor Maldonado was more than a second slower and exited qualifying in Q2.
Grosjean made a reasonable start but suffered front-wing damage thanks to the tiniest contact with the rear of Sergio Perez's car. He was forced to stop for a new nose and was 17th when the first safety car returned to the pits at the end of Lap 3.
He quickly made up places and was 13th as he started Lap 12. Jenson Button's McLaren was up ahead, and Grosjean was close behind going through Turn 3. He lost the rear of the car mid-corner, tried to correct it, failed and skidded off into the barriers at the outside.
Grosjean later said on the Lotus website: "I lost the rear end in a very high speed corner going through turn three and couldn’t recover it. We don’t know exactly why yet. We need to check what has happened—was it a driver error or something technical?—we’ll see."
But it looked like he'd just got too near to Button—he closed in considerably throughout the turn—encountered more dirty air than expected and simply lost control.
The resulting safety car created the strategic divide that added so much excitement to the closing stages of the race. Unfortunately, Grosjean wasn't a part of it.
He falls a spot to seventh.
Rating: 6
Cumulative: 47
6. Valtteri Bottas
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Up Two
Valtteri Bottas was robbed at the last moment by a driver who should have known better.
He qualified a fine third, beating Sebastian Vettel's Ferrrai by less than one-tenth of a second. Team-mate Felipe Massa had a poor Saturday; hampered by traffic and an error, the Brazilian was down in 15th.
Bottas got off the line well and was able to take advantage of a slipstream to challenge the two Mercedes into Turn 2. However, Kimi Raikkonen had made an even better start and was able to nip down the inside to relegate Bottas to fourth.
The Williams man quickly made amends as soon as the first safety car came in, but toward the end of his first stint, Sebastian Vettel—who had also passed Raikkonen—began to close. Bottas went aggressive with his stop to prevent an undercut, but he got stuck in traffic and Vettel emerged ahead.
Now in fifth, Bottas pressured Daniel Ricciardo for a couple of laps before finally getting by, then he closed up on Sergio Perez. The Mexican had been nursing his tyres for almost 40 laps and couldn't stop Bottas overtaking on the penultimate lap.
It looked like the Finn was set for a podium, but on the final lap, countryman Raikkonen launched an overambitious attack into Turn 4. Raikkonen slammed into the left-rear corner of Bottas' car, sending him into the barrier and out of the race.
The Ferrari driver later received a penalty for the move, but it will have been little consolation for Bottas.
He's up two spots to sixth.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 48
5. Max Verstappen
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No Change
Max Verstappen had a miserable afternoon after sustaining damage on the first lap.
He qualified ninth on the grid, beating both Red Bull drivers with a lap of 1:38.924. A comparison with team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr is impossible—he missed the session after a heavy practice crash.
Verstappen made an average start and was 10th as he took the inside line at Turn 2. However, he was unable to get out of the way of Nico Hulkenberg's spinning Force India. The contact was minor, but it was enough to send Verstappen off for a meeting—again, very light—with the barriers.
He suffered a puncture and damage to the rear of the car, and though he made it back to the pits, the team couldn't repair everything. His pace was poor for the entirety of the race and only an unusual number of cars dropping out let him take the chequered flag in 11th.
But Fernando Alonso's repeated corner-cutting earned him a five-second penalty. This was enough to edge Verstappen up into 10th and give him a single championship point.
He holds station in fifth.
Rating: 7
Cumulative: 50
4. Sergio Perez
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Up Three
Sergio Perez needed a stroke of luck but more than deserved his podium finish.
He qualified seventh after being edged out in a tight qualifying duel with team-mate Nico Hulkenberg. The German's best lap was just 32-thousands of second quicker than Perez's.
Perez had a better initial getaway off the grid and passed Hulkenberg before Turn 1, but he got cooped up behind the Ferraris into the braking zone of Turn 2. Hulkenberg was briefly back in front, but he spun mid-corner and was collected by Marcus Ericsson, putting both out on the spot.
Left to carry Force India's standard alone, Perez ended the opening lap in sixth and moved up to fifth when Nico Rosberg retired. He didn't have enough pace to live with the four leading cars but looked a touch quicker than anyone behind.
When the second safety car emerged on Lap 12, the team decided to gamble and pulled Perez in for his one and only stop. Doing this dropped him to ninth, but all the cars ahead still had to make their own visits to the pits.
Perez passed Pastor Maldonado soon after the restart to claim eighth, and when everyone else pitted he found himself running in third.
Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen were homing in fast, but they were held up by Daniel Ricciardo and only caught Perez with seven laps left. The Mexican had older tyres and a slower car, and though he defended well, Bottas finally scythed through on the penultimate lap. Raikkonen followed his countryman past.
It seemed like any hopes he had of a podium were gone, but the two Finns collided half a lap later. Perez gratefully accepted their gift and crossed the line in third for his first top-three finish since Bahrain in 2014.
Fortune played its part, but luck had nothing to do with his defending, tyre management and overall pace.
Perez looks to be in the best form of his career and rises three spots to fourth.
Rating: 10
Cumulative: 50
3. Daniel Ricciardo
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No Change
Daniel Ricciardo left Russia empty handed after his car failed to last the distance.
He outqualified team-mate Daniil Kvyat for the third race in a row but won't have been happy with his performance. The Australian started 10th after setting a Q3 time of 1:39.728—seven-tenths slower than his best from Q2. Kvyat lined up 11th.
When the lights went out, Ricciardo got off the line better than those around him—something he has done a lot in the second half of the season. But on this occasion, he was delayed slightly by Romain Grosjean and entered Turn 2 behind Kvyat.
He took to the run-off area to avoid the Nico Hulkenberg-induced trouble and ended the opening lap in eighth.
Ricciardo spent the early laps behind Kvyat, but when the second safety car came out, he was the man Red Bull chose to gamble with. He'd have to look after a single set of soft-compound tyres for 40 laps, but he lost very little time—and only three positions—making his stop.
As the drivers ahead reached their own pit windows and made their stops, Ricciardo made up places until he was running in fourth. But he had Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen breathing down his neck; though he held them off for 13 laps, Bottas eventually overtook on Lap 45.
Two laps later, a suspension issue ended Ricciardo's race.
It was his third dose of rotten luck in the last five races, but he keeps his position in the rankings.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 51
2. Lewis Hamilton
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Down One
Lewis Hamilton moved to within a whisker of his third world title with victory in Sochi.
He was outqualified by Nico Rosberg for only the third time in 2015, but he was still quick enough to line up second on the grid. The gap to his team-mate was just over three-tenths of a second—the largest it has been all year.
A decent getaway saw Hamilton move into Rosberg's slipstream on the run down to the first corner. The reigning world champion pulled alongside going into the braking area, but he had to yield and remained in second place.
Hamilton very nearly took himself and Rosberg out two corners later; Rosberg responded to the safety car signals by dramatically slowing at the exit of Turn 4, and Hamilton had to lock his front wheel to avoid contact.
At the restart, Hamilton stayed close to his team-mate as the German struggled with throttle pedal issues. On Lap 7 the lead changed when Rosberg's failing car sent him deep into Turn 2, and Hamilton didn't have a lot to do thereafter.
He did, however, have a small scare in the closing stages. An unspecified problem with his rear wing—which Mercedes boss Toto Wolff described on the team website as "an aerodynamic instability"—caused Hamilton to slow in the final laps, but he had more than enough of a lead to stay ahead.
Would he have beaten Rosberg in a straight fight? Unfortunately, we'll never know.
Hamilton drops a place to second.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 51
1. Sebastian Vettel
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Up One
Sebastian Vettel notched up his 11th podium of the season after a rare fight with his team-mate.
He qualified fourth on the grid, beaten to his usual best-of-the-rest target of third by the Williams of Valtteri Bottas. His time of 1:37.965 was four-tenths quicker than fifth-placed Kimi Raikkonen's best.
Vettel didn't get off the grid well and was passed by Raikkonen within a few hundred metres. He stayed behind throughout the two safety car periods, but at the restart following the second, Raikkonen got out of shape through the final two corners.
This allowed Vettel to close up heading onto the pit straight, and he sold the Finn a beautiful dummy before taking the inside line for Turn 2. The Ferrari duo almost touched and Raikkonen was forced to take to the run off area; Vettel moved up to third.
He then caught up to the rear of Bottas' Williams. The British team pulled their man in for an early stop, but he got stuck in traffic. When Vettel emerged from his own stop, he was up to a net third. Sergio Perez was immediately dispatched, and from then on, it was an uneventful race for the German.
Vettel followed Lewis Hamilton home in second and edges back into the driver rankings top spot.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 52
Penalty, timing, qualifying and race data used throughout sourced primarily from the FIA. Additional data from the official F1 website and F1 Fanatic's lap charts.
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