Aramco F1 Power Rankings: How do the rankings work, and which driver is leading after the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix

Formula 1 Power Rankings: The rankings have seen significant changes at the top after the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone.

The Formula 1 Power Rankings for the 2020 season are determined on scores given by a five-judge panel. The average of the scores are utilized to given the 20 drivers a ranking on the overall leader-board. The two steps for determining the Power Rankings are mentioned in the official F1 website as follows:

• “A five-judge panel assess each driver after every Grand Prix and scores them out of 10 according to their performance across the weekend – taking machinery out of the equation.
• The experts’ scores are then averaged out to produce a race score – with those scores then tallied up across the season on the overall Power Rankings Leaderboard.”

Experts’ score for the 70th Anniversary GP

1= Max Verstappen (10 points)

The Dutchman was sublime at Silverstone, and thoroughly deserved the win. It was an entertaining ride from the Red Bull driver, who even had an animated radio session with his engineers. His team was asking him to go slow on the Mercedes, but he is not one to listen. Verstappen is the first non-Mercedes winner this season, and will be confident ahead of the race this weekend at Barcelona.

1= Charles Leclerc (10 points)

Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari have struggled all season, be it grip or race pace. His teammate Sebastian Vettel has had a torrid season so far, and looks in a mood to leave Ferrari already. But Lerclerc showed what a good racing car criver he is, working his one-stop strategy to perfection. He finished fourth, but it must have felt like victory for Leclerc and Ferrari.

3. Nico Hulkenberg (8.6 points)

The German was fabulous last weekend, before his car unfortunately did not start right before the lights went out. This time, again at Silverstone, fortunately none of it occurred, allowing Nico to have a brilliant weekend. After finishing P3 in the qualifying session, the Racing Point driver did well to finish 7th in the race. This performance would have definitely a few teams in the paddock looking for drivers for next season.

Read more: Nico in talks with a couple of teams for a F1 seat next season.

4. Lewis Hamilton (8.2 points)

Lewis Hamilton did not have the perfect race he expects week in, week out, but still did a good job of finishing on the podium. Verstappen was too good for him on the day, but expect Hamilton to bounce back stronger in the upcoming races.

5. Alex Albon (8.0 points)

Alex Albon has had a topsy-turvy season so far, starting with that infamous clash with Hamilton in the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix. Since then, he has complained of car-related issues, and even has had his race engineer changed. The Thai driver looked strong in this race, taking over the ‘overtaking’ crown from Lando Norris. Starting from 9th on the grid, Albon did extremely well to finish 5th in the end.

6. Daniil Kvyat (7.8 points)

The Russian had an impressive race, considering he failed to make it out of Q1 in qualifying. He was his usual gritty self, keeping his cool to finish 10th, and take the solitary point available. If he improves his qualifying performance, we could see many more impressive performances in the coming races.

7= Valtteri Bottas (7.6 points)

The Finn had a great start to his weekend, after taking pole position on Saturday. This after he was awarded an one-year extension on his Mercedes contract. But the same cannot be said of his race, after he dropped two places to finish behind Max and his teammate Hamilton. Bottas, after the race went on to criticize his team Mercedes for “sleeping”. 

8= Lando Norris (7.6 points)

The cheeky Brit has been the revelation of the season, both on and off the race-track. Norris took an incredible podium in the Austrian Grand Prix, the first of his F1 career. The man, nicknamed “Last Lap Lando”, went on to have a brilliant race last weekend at Silverstone, too, finishing in the fifth place. He could only manage P9 this time around, but still managed to finish ahead of his Ferrari-bound teammate Carlos Sainz.

9. Esteban Ocon (7.4 points)

Ocon had a disappointing qualifying session, managing only P11 after missing out on Q3. His day was made worse by a 3-place grid penalty for coming in the way of Williams’ George Russell. But Ocon, like Leclerc dug it out, and managed an impressive P8 on an one-stop strategy.

10. Pierre Gasly (7.0 points)

The Frenchman had a good start to the weekend, after qualifying in P7 for the final race. But the end was anything but good, as he struggled with the hard tyres. Gasly ended up missing on points after finishing the race in 11th position.

Overall Power Rankings

There has been an unexpected change at the top of the table, with Max Verstappen taking over reigning champion Lewis Hamilton. Max has 45.6 points after 5 races, 0.6 points ahead of Hamilton. Max’s teammate, meanwhile, is down at the 10th spot, with a lot to improve. Notable absentees from the Top 10 include Ferrari’s Vettel and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll. Both drivers, incidentally, are expected to be teammates at Aston Martin next season.