Only one Formula 1 driver put together a truly elite weekend during the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona this year.
Another one very nearly did, but then very much did not, as you already remember but will see again in our regular F1 driver rankings.
How do the rankings work? The 20 drivers will be ranked in order of performance from best to worst on each grand prix weekend. This will be based on the full range of criteria, ranging from pace and racecraft to consistency and whether they made key mistakes. How close each driver got to delivering on the maximum performance potential of the car will be an essential consideration.
It’s important to note both that this reflects performance across the entire weekend, cognisant of the fact that qualifying is effectively ‘lap 0’ of the race and key to laying the foundations to the race, and that it is not a ranking of the all-round qualities of each driver. It’s simply about how they performed on a given weekend. Therefore, the ranking will fluctuate significantly from weekend to weekend.
And with each of the 10 cars fundamentally having different performance potential and ‘luck’ (ie factors outside of a driver’s control) contributing to the way the weekend plays out, this ranking will also differ significantly from the overall results.
Started: 1st Finished: 1st
Considering he felt he’d left a little time on the table in the second half of his pole position lap, Piastri’s advantage over Norris in qualifying was decisive - both in terms of margin and the commanding position that put him in for the race. A good start converted that into a lead he never looked like losing as he took his tally to five wins in nine races.
Verdict: On imperious form.
Started: 4th Finished: 4th
There probably wasn’t a great deal more Russell could have done in qualifying, although the fact he matched Verstappen in Q3 but started behind thanks to setting the time later proves third was possible had he found a tiny amount of time.
He lost two places at the start, including to Leclerc’s move at Turn 5, although he undercut his way past Hamilton at the second stops.
Prevailed in the late scrap with Verstappen - and survived being clattered by the Red Bull driver.
Verdict: First-lap losses set him back.
Started: 8th Finished: 8th
The Alpine was more at home at Barcelona than Monaco, and Gasly made the most of it to edge Alonso and Hadjar to qualify at the front of the midfield pack.
As is often the case, the car's relative pace was slightly weaker in the race and Gasly lost out in battle to Hadjar and to the charging Hulkenberg late on. He also lacked a functioning drinks system throughout the race.
Verdict: On form at a track where he thrives.
Started: 7th Finished: 3rd
Leclerc’s qualifying underachievement has an asterisk by it given the decision to burn an extra set of softs in FP3 in order to carry a second set of mediums into the race. He used his sole remaining fresh soft set on the first run in Q3, which meant he was a couple of places lower than where he should have qualified.
He was on course for fourth in the race, only for the safety car to make beating Verstappen to third possible - albeit after they exchanged paint on the main straight. His underlying pace was also stronger than Hamilton’s, despite qualifying behind.
Verdict: Gave a little away in qualifying.
Started: 9th Finished: 7th
Hadjar continues to defy his rookie status by consistently delivering in qualifying, notably by picking up the pace when it matters to leave Lawson in the shade in Q2 - although his Q3 lap perhaps could have been slightly better.
His race was largely with Gasly, and it was one he prevailed in, having had to fight hard for it on track. And while he was passed by Hulkenberg late on, there was little he could do to prevent it given the tyre offset.
Verdict: Another strong weekend.
Started: 15th Finished: 5th
While Hulkenberg’s fifth place and eye-catching overtaking on Lewis Hamilton grabbed the attention, what was really impressive about his weekend was the strong race drive to what was really ninth place. That’s a great effort in a Sauber, even before he capitalised on fresh softs after the restart.
However, he did underachieve in qualifying after losing time towards the end of his Q1 lap.
Verdict: A fine race drive.
Started: 12th Finished: 12th
Despite only getting the Sauber upgrade from Saturday onwards, Bortoleto adapted seamlessly and produced his best qualifying performance in F1.
He outpaced Hulkenberg by a tenth and a half, then ran with him and Alonso early on only for strategy, and the timing of the safety car, to work against him.
However, had Sauber not run long with a view to a possible one-stopper, he could easily have scored.
Verdict: A strong, but unrewarded, weekend.
Started: 2nd Finished: 2nd
It was a decent weekend for Norris, but ultimately one where he was short of the level achieved by his team-mate. The 0.209s deficit in qualifying, combined with temporarily losing second place to Verstappen at the start, meant he was never a serious threat to Piastri in the race.
The real damage was done in qualifying.
Verdict: A clear second-best at McLaren.
Started: 5th Finished: 6th
While Hamilton was utterly dejected after the race, his performance wasn’t as terrible as he felt it was.
He was the slower Ferrari driver in terms of underlying pace, owing his qualifying position to delivering a good lap at the end of Q3 while Leclerc underachieved. And while he had to let his team-mate go in the race, he was only 12 seconds behind Leclerc when the safety car was deployed - and had an unspecified problem that manifested itself at some point in the second stint.
Verdict: Not as disastrous as he made out.
Started: 13th Finished: 11th
As has become the pattern, Lawson’s pace looked promising through practice but when it came to the crunch in qualifying he couldn’t go with Hadjar and leaked time to his team-mate across their respective Q2 laps.
He had what’s best described as a robust race, but kept himself in the mix for points and was 10th when the safety car was called a fraction too late for him to pit.
That meant he took the restart on older rubber and fell behind Alonso late on, costing him a points finish.
Verdict: Unlucky not to score.
Started: 6th Finished: DNF
Antonelli never showed the pace of Russell, qualifying 0.263s slower and behind Hamilton’s Ferrari.
He struggled a little with rear-end stability in the race, but put together a decent second stint on the medium tyres and held seventh place when a power unit failure eliminated him.
Verdict: A subdued end to tricky triple-header.
Started: 14th Finished: 17th
Bearman was the quicker Haas driver in Spain and, given the team’s struggles, reaching Q2 was about as good as it was going to get in qualifying.
He had a lively race and got himself into the mix for points, but dropped away from contention after falling into blue flag territory when he made his second stop. He finished 13th on the road, but a 10-second penalty relegated him to 17th.
Verdict: Quick but a few rough edges.
Started: 10th Finished: 9th
Consistently dragged the best out of the Aston Martin through practice and qualifying, celebrating what was in the end a P10 lap in Q3 like it was a pole position.
Unfortunately, some of that work was undone when he locked the front left and went through the gravel at Turn 5, costing him a couple of places.
He seemed destined to miss out on points and was promoted to the all-too-familiar 11th place. After a pitstop under the safety car, he took the restart 13th but came through to ninth after Verstappen’s penalty.
Verdict: Turn 5 off damaged his race, and ranking.
Started: 11th Finished: DNF
This was one of those weekends where nothing went right for Albon.
He sat out FP1 to allow Victor Martins to run, then only did a few laps in FP3 thanks to problems. That meant he had to do three runs in Q1, which helped to set him up for a shot at Q3 only for turbulence in traffic to, in his opinion, cost him a place in the top 10.
But the Williams wasn’t quick, and an iffy start, two damaged front wings - and a penalty - made for a futile afternoon that came to a premature end.
Verdict: Unlucky but relatively quick.
Started: 16th Finished: 16th
Having sat out FP1 in favour of Ryo Hirakawa, Ocon lost out in the intra-Haas battle in qualifying. While he complained of a derate at the end of the last lap, more costly relative to Bearman was his pace through the slow corners.
As Haas was struggling overall, he was always up against it in the race and although staying out under the safety car briefly elevated him to 11th, he was never really in the points hunt.
Verdict: Marginally the second-best Haas driver on pace.
Started: 17th Finished: 14th
With Williams struggling thanks to the fact that, as Sainz put it, “the moment you put combined forces on this car the downforce falls away”, he was always up against it in qualifying.
However, falling in Q1 wasn’t expected - with the 0.159s deficit to Albon enough to put him out following a lap where he had to pass five cars, having been compromised by the pitlane queue caused by Colapinto’s problem.
Front wing damage picked up in Turn 2 meant an early stop in what was a futile race.
Verdict: A tricky weekend.
Started: 18th Finished: 15th
After a difficult Friday, Colapinto started to build some momentum in qualifying. In Q1, he shaded Gasly’s first-run pace - albeit with the caveat that this was Colapinto’s second attempt compared to his team-mate’s first. But there was a good chance of making Q2, only for a problem that manifested itself in the pitlane when he was caught out by how slowly the queue ahead was moving.
That meant a long Sunday afternoon stuck in traffic.
Verdict: Signs of improvement.
Started: 19th (pits) Finished: 13th
The RB21 clearly requires extraordinary skill to extract the pace from, but the fact remains that, even taking the aforementioned into account, qualifying last on merit in a car capable of third is a disaster.
While the condensed field spread and the fact he was on the old-spec floor that costs around a tenth also contributed to that, what’s most concerning is that Tsunoda seemed baffled by the pace difference. After starting from the pits following wing and suspension changes, as well as sorting some minor floor damage that was detected, he was always up against it and couldn’t recover to the points.
Verdict: Seems increasingly lost.
Started: 3rd Finished: 10th
Based on everything that happened up to the point of the safety-car restart late in the grand prix, Verstappen was on course for a high ranking thanks to his faultless run to third place.
Unfortunately, his self-defeating loss of control after being instructed to let Russell past led to the deserved 10-second penalty that turned fifth on-the-road into 10th.
While he was unfortunate to be in that position, running hard Pirellis, what he did to Russell after frustration boiled over and he lost control was a needless self-inflicted wound.
Verdict: A costly loss of control ruined a good weekend.
Started: DNS Finished: DNS
Withdrew after qualifying as he was, according to the team, “experiencing pain in his hand and wrist” linked to his pre-season 2023 cycling accident. Prior to that, he’d never shown anything like Alonso’s pace, qualifying just over half a second down in 14th.
While usually a driver withdrawing having shown their speed in qualifying would be ranked, Stroll’s injury creates benefit of doubt.
Verdict: Evades judgement.
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