Formula 1's Driver Power Rankings After 2015 Brazilian Grand Prix
Nico Rosberg swept to his fifth victory of the 2015 Formula One season at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The German, on a high following his flawless drive in Mexico, made no mistakes after qualifying on pole and forced team-mate Lewis Hamilton to settle for second.
But this particular duel, if it could be referred to as such, will not go down as one of their best. Following an evenly matched car closely around Interlagos proved impossible, and the phoney war between the Silver Arrows set the stage for a rather dull race, punctuated only briefly by moments of excitement.
As has often been the case this year, Max Verstappen provided some of them. His Lap 31 pass on Sergio Perez was the undoubted highlight of the race, while Daniel Ricciardo and Romain Grosjean also did what they could to keep the viewing public awake.
Nico Hulkenberg and Sebastian Vettel had less to do but still deserve praise for their driving, as does Valtteri Bottas—red-flag overtaking aside.
But Sergio Perez saw his fine run of form end as he struggled all weekend, and Fernando Alonso didn't have a lot to smile about either. The Spaniard unwittingly inspired the best F1-related Twitter hashtag of the year—#PlacesAlonsoWouldRatherBe—but his weekend otherwise passed without note.
Most of the championship positions are now decided but the drivers will still be going all out for a good result when the 2015 season ends at Abu Dhabi on November 29.
Until then, here's how the drivers 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, 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. Races outside the most recent six have zero impact on the scores.
The cumulative total and ranking is therefore based on recent form—it is not a reflection of the season as a whole.
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 Mexican Grand Prix and available here.
Honourable Mentions
1 of 11
Nico Hulkenberg has never had a pointless race at Interlagos and produced another fine drive this time around. His sixth-placed finish officially secured Force India's highest-ever constructors' championship result.
And Pastor Maldonado, despite his demolition derby-style pass on Marcus Ericsson, also deserves a mention. He was pushed off the track by his team-mate at Turn 1 but recovered to score points for the fourth race in the last five.
It's curious how his ability to score points has improved as the car's competitiveness has waned...
10. Daniil Kvyat
2 of 11
No Change
Daniil Kvyat tightened his grip on seventh in the drivers' championship after a solid but unspectacular race.
He qualified seventh on the grid with a Q3 lap of one minute, 12.322 seconds, outqualifying Daniel Ricciardo for the seventh time in 2015. The Australian was just under a tenth of a second slower over a single lap.
Kvyat moved up to sixth after Valtteri Bottas took a penalty, and he made a fairly good start. Bottas rocketed past on the outside, but Kvyat was able to get down the inside of Nico Hulkenberg into the first corner. He hung on around the outside through Turn 2 and kept the position, ending the opening lap in sixth.
The Russian had to withstand mild pressure from Hulkenberg throughout the opening stint, the Force India appearing quicker on the soft-compound tyres. The German pitted at the end of Lap 9 and, though Kvyat was brought in the following lap, Hulkenberg took advantage of the undercut to demote him down to seventh.
Kvyat lost a couple of seconds making his way past two-stopping Pastor Maldonado, then he set off in pursuit of Hulkenberg.
He caught up, but the VJM08's Mercedes engine gave it a big straight-line speed advantage, and Kvyat—despite now looking faster—was never able to make a serious attempt at passing.
Kvyat crossed the line in seventh to add six points to his tally—it's now almost certain he'll end the year as the top Red Bull driver.
He holds station in 10th.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 45
9. Fernando Alonso
3 of 11
Down One
Fernando Alonso could be forgiven for wanting to be somewhere else after a thoroughly miserable weekend.
His McLaren ground to a halt at the start of Q1 before he'd had chance to set a single lap—it had also broken down in second practice. He was permitted to start the race in 20th, four places behind team-mate Jenson Button.
Alonso made a good start and went through Turn 1 glued to Button's rear wing. He got past Marcus Ericsson through Turn 3 and was up to 14th, but he missed his braking point into Turn 4—or others braked too early—and ran wide, falling back to 16th.
The Spaniard managed to overtake Pastor Maldonado early on and ended up back on Button's tail, which is, give or take a second or five, where he spent the remainder of the race.
Alonso crossed the line in 16th and later revealed he'd been forced to drive around a curiously behaving engine. Freshly installed after his qualifying unit failed, there had been no time to set it up and the power delivery had been unusual.
He falls one spot to ninth.
Rating: 7
Cumulative: 47
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8. Jenson Button
4 of 11
Up One
Jenson Button had a typical 2015 race but wasn't a million miles away from the points.
Left to carry the McLaren standard alone into qualifying, he could only set the 17th-fastest time—ahead of only the two Manors. But he was at the very least close to the cars ahead—less than half-a-tenth down on Pastor Maldonado and just 79-hundredths away from a spot in Q3.
Button rose to 16th on the grid due to penalties for other cars and made a good start. He tried to get between the two Lotus cars but backed out—wisely—and focused instead on passing Marcus Ericsson. He ended the opening lap in 13th, but Daniel Ricciardo overtook the following lap.
An early first stop saw him undercut Felipe Nasr, and for eight laps, the two fought over 14th place. The Brazilian eventually prevailed and Button was left with little to do until the closing stages, when he began to catch back up to Nasr as the Sauber man struggled with his brakes.
Unfortunately for him, the laps ran out. Button crossed the line in a very disappointing 15th, but he was only 12 seconds down on 10th-placed Maldonado—and ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso.
Button moves up one place to eighth.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 47
7. Valtteri Bottas
5 of 11
No Change
Valtteri Bottas maintained his hold on fourth in the drivers' championship but didn't have an awful lot to do.
He put in a great lap on Saturday to qualify fourth on the grid, a shade over three-tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Felipe Massa. But unfortunately for him, a three-place grid penalty for overtaking under red flag conditions during practice dropped him down to seventh.
From there, he made a blistering start, flying past Nico Hulkenberg and Daniil Kvyat before the braking zone and challenging Kimi Raikkonen on the outside into Turn 1. Bottas might have got past, but it was just as likely the two would have collided again—the younger Finn decided against going for the move and slotted into fifth.
Having restored himself to roughly where he would have started, Bottas drove the whole race in a world of his own. The Mercedes and Ferraris ahead were too quick, but he was comfortably faster than the cars behind.
He finished fifth to add 10 points to his tally—but where might he have ended up without that grid penalty?
Bottas enters the final race of the year with a one-point advantage over Raikkonen and a 19-point cushion over Massa.
He holds steady in seventh.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 48
6. Sergio Perez
6 of 11
Down Four
Sergio Perez had a tough time on a circuit that rarely gives him a reason to be cheerful.
He qualified a disappointing 13th on the grid after an error on his Q2 hot lap. His time of 1:13.147 was almost seven-tenths down on the time team-mate Nico Hulkenberg set in the same phase.
Perez started 11th on the grid as other drivers took penalties and got off the line well, ending the opening lap in ninth after passing Max Verstappen. But rather than pull away from the Toro Rosso, he ended up defending from it—as the cars ahead steadily disappeared up the road.
The Mexican withstood Verstappen's pressure for almost half the race distance but eventually fell prey to a beautiful move around the outside of Turn 1. Pushed off line, Perez was also overtaken by Romain Grosjean and found himself down in 11th.
He undercut his way back past the Frenchman a few laps later, but Grosjean again overtook and Perez was left to battle the recovering Daniel Ricciardo. The Red Bull man succeeded in overtaking down the inside but, like Grosjean, he was undercut.
Perez resumed defending duties and held out until six laps from the end, when Ricciardo eventually got back past. Struggling with tyre wear, Perez slipped back in the closing stages and ended up being classified in 12th—just over a second clear of Felipe Nasr's Sauber.
He slips down four spots to sixth.
Rating: 6
Cumulative: 48
5. Sebastian Vettel
7 of 11
No Change
Sebastian Vettel, like many drivers, didn't have much to do in Sunday's race.
He qualified third for the eighth time in 2015 with a lap of 1:11.804, just over half a second shy of polesitter Nico Rosberg. Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen qualified fifth, three-tenths slower.
Vettel made an average start, getting off the line at the same pace as those around him, and he held third into the first corner. He might have been hoping to challenge the two Silver Arrows up ahead but didn't quite have enough pace.
He did, however, remain close enough to bother the Mercedes pit wall. Ferrari's decision to pit Vettel for soft tyres on Lap 32 pushed the German team into putting Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton on matching, three-stop strategies.
Vettel lost third to two-stopping team-mate Raikkonen after that second stop, but he quickly got back past and resumed his quiet race. He came home in third to chalk up another podium finish, just six seconds behind Hamilton.
Though not the most exciting race he's ever had, it was a good way to banish the memories of his poor Mexican outing.
Vettel remains fifth.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 48
4. Daniel Ricciardo
8 of 11
No Change
Daniel Ricciardo struggled after taking what was supposed to be an upgraded Renault engine.
He qualified ninth with a time of 1:12.417, just less than a tenth of a second down on team-mate Daniil Kvyat. The Russian was using the old-spec power unit—that he was ahead suggested something was amiss.
Ricciardo dropped to 19th on the grid after taking a 10-place penalty for changing his engine, but after the opening lap, he'd made his way up to 14th. He overtook Jenson Button before making a very early scheduled stop at the end of Lap 3.
Doing this gave him some clean air for the second stint and put him a little out of sync with the rest of the field. Ricciardo made his second stop before the main pack, too, with the undercut working to his advantage and putting him onto Sergio Perez's tail.
A drawn-out battle ensued with Ricciardo eventually coming out on top after a well-timed lunge down the inside into Turn 1. Force India got their man back ahead using the undercut at the final round of stops, so Ricciardo attacked again—this time going around the outside of the Mexican at the Senna S.
Ricciardo caught Pastor Maldonado but ran out of laps to mount an assault and ended up classified 11th.
It looks a bad result for a driver running a power unit that should have been an improvement, but Auto Motor und Sport's Tobias Gruner later revealed GPS data suggested it had 20 horsepower less than the old-spec unit Kvyat had.
Taking that—and a couple of nice overtakes—into account, it was a far better drive than it looked. Ricciardo remains fourth.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 49
3. Lewis Hamilton
9 of 11
Down Two
Lewis Hamilton was again beaten to the race win at a circuit with few opportunities to pass.
He was outqualfied by team-mate Nico Rosberg for the fifth race in a row, but as usual, the margin was tight. Hamilton's lap of 1:11.360 was just 0.078 seconds slower than Rosberg's best.
From second on the grid, he made a decent start and opted to try the outside line into Turn 1, but he backed out—perhaps aware of what happens to the outermost Mercedes in such situations—and settled into second.
Hamilton wasn't content to park behind Rosberg to save his tyres, instead going on the offensive as soon as he could. This predictably killed his rubber, and the German had pulled out a small gap by the time both made their first stops.
The pattern was repeated during the second and fourth stints, only the third giving any respite to Rosberg, but never once did it look like a real battle would take place.
Hamilton came home nearly eight seconds down after ruining his tyres in one final attempt to pass.
He's down two places to third.
Rating: 8
Cumulative: 50
2. Max Verstappen
10 of 11
Up Three
Max Verstappen gave us the passing move of the race on his way to finishing ninth.
He made it through to Q3 for the fourth race in a row and qualified 10th, two places ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz who exited in Q2. The Spaniard's best time was a 1:13.045—three-tenths slower than Verstappen at the same stage.
Verstappen started ninth due to Daniel Ricciardo's grid penalty and had a mixed opening lap. He was 10th going into the braking zone for Turn 1, but he went around the outside of Sergio Perez and tried to do the same to Felipe Massa and Nico Hulkenberg at Turn 3.
However, he put a wheel wide, dropped back and was repassed by Perez on the pit straight to end the lap in 10th. Verstappen spent most of the first half of the race stuck to the Force India's gearbox before finally getting close enough for a proper attack at on Lap 32.
Without sufficient straight-line speed to pass on the straight, Verstappen braked later than Perez on the outside. He hung on around Turn 1 for the inside line into Turn 2, forcing the Mexican to give way.
Romain Grosjean powered past shortly after, and in the closing stages, Verstappen came up behind Felipe Nasr's Sauber, which he passed in a copy of the move he did on Perez. The Dutchman then passed Pastor Maldonado a few laps from the end to take 10th.
This became ninth after Felipe Massa's disqualification.
Verstappen's driving has been exceptional for a rookie of late—he rises three spots to second.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 51
1. Nico Rosberg
11 of 11
Up Two
Nico Rosberg's rich vein of form continued at Interlagos.
He qualified on pole for the fifth race in a row by a very narrow margin, his lap of 1:11.282 enough to beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton by just 0.078 seconds.
The German made a reasonable start—as good as anyone around him—and though he was a little cautious into the braking zone of Turn 1, he stayed ahead of Hamilton. The first stint passed with little drama, but early in the second, Rosberg came under attack—sort of.
Hamilton pushed hard but couldn't get close enough to mount a proper challenge. Rosberg only needed to keep it on the tarmac and avoid making a single mistake. He did just that, pulling out a small gap at the end of the stint after Hamilton's tyres went off.
Rosberg had a quiet time in the third stint and warded off another brief Hamilton attack in the fourth. He crossed the line almost eight seconds clear to win his fifth race of the season in convincing fashion.
Whatever Rosberg has started to do differently in the last five or so races, it's working. He rises to the top of the rankings.
Rating: 9
Cumulative: 52
Session, timing, penalty and race data used throughout sourced from the FIA, the official F1 website and F1 Fanatic's lap charts.
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