1. Max Verstappen-

It was another faultless weekend from Max Verstappen, being virtually unchallenged on the way to his 56^th victory. In contrast to the tight qualifying in Bahrain, Verstappen looked fully in control to take pole in Saudi. Whilst facing mild pressure to get past Norris after the safety car period, Verstappen retaking the lead was an inevitability. Once he got past Norris and back into the lead, he was his usual unstoppable self. Verstappen is once again on nine race victories in a row, a record that looked unbeatable a couple years ago, until Max beat it. After the next couple of races, Max may even beat his own win streak. As I will get very used to saying this year, he’s on another level.

2. Sergio Perez-

Much has been made of Sergio Perez’s performances over the last three years, as he becomes the latest in a list of unlucky drivers who have found themselves as teammates to an all time great. Thus, I’m assessing Sergio’s performances with the expectation that he will probably not beat Verstappen. From this standard, Perez had a pretty faultless weekend. Qualifying 3^rd, albeit only 0.016 seconds behind Charles Leclerc, Perez quickly passed Leclerc on lap four. From there, he shadowed Verstappen for the rest of the race, overtaking Norris a few laps after Verstappen had and delivering Red Bull a perfect 1-2 finish. In a weekend in which the driver many want to replace Perez was thoroughly trounced by his teammate, Perez is beginning to solidify his hold on that second Red Bull.

3. Oscar Piastri-

Oscar delivered on his McLaren’s potential this weekend, outqualifying his more experienced teammate and finishing the race as best of the rest. Whilst spending far too much time stuck behind Lewis Hamilton in the race, this was the fault of the McLaren lacking straight line speed, rather than Oscar underperforming. It also did not affect his final position, as the podium was out of reach given the pace of that Ferrari. Either way, he kept Alonso behind and was rewarded with 4^th in the race and 5^th in the championship. Last year Oscar proved that he deserved his seat and if he can keep outqualifying and outracing Norris, he can show why so many experts see him as a Verstappen/Leclerc level talent.

4. Oliver Bearman-

From one impressive young talent to another, Ollie was outstanding this weekend. After only having a single practice session to learn the car, he was already on the pace. Whilst qualifying was not perfect, Ollie missing out on Q3 by less than a tenth of a second, Ollie’s race more than made up for this. He showed good pace, made decisive overtakes and kept both Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton behind at the end of the race on old hard tyres. Whilst winning F2 is the most obvious path to Formula One, a performance like this shows all the F1 teams that he has the minerals to deliver in the top level of motorsports.

5. Haas-

I’m breaking my own rules slightly here, by giving half a point to both Haas drivers. Kevin Magnussen deserves acknowledgement for successfully holding back the midfield pack, which gained Haas their first point of the season. However, whilst a great example of unorthodoxy winning the day, I’m deducting half a point from Magnussen as he was only in this position after receiving twenty seconds of penalties, that ruined his own race. Thus, half a point also goes to Hulkenberg, the Haas driver who has been consistently delivering the best pace for the last year, as well as the driver who was able to capitalize on his team’s tactics to earn that point, something that may prove a rarity for those teams in the bottom half of the field.

Tally:[1]

1. Max Verstappen- 2
2. Charles Leclerc- 1
3. Carlos Sainz- 1
4. Sergio Perez- 1
5. George Russell- 1
6. Oscar Piastri- 1
7. Oliver Bearman- 1
8. Zhou Guanyu- 1
9. Nico Hulkenberg- 0.5
10. Kevin Magnussen- 0.5

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[1] Of how many times drivers have featured in these lists.