It’s week two of Edd Straw’s new Formula 1 driver rankings format, as he takes a closer look at each driver’s individual performance at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Since no one was perfect during the Mexico City weekend, who ended up in the coveted S Tier? And what mistakes caused their ranking to drop?
As usual, you can ask your questions about Edd’s ranking by commenting on this post in The Race Members’ Club – and try to compile your own Mexican GP tier list with our practical visual tool!
Max Verstappen raced with his usual incisive brilliance, showing strong pace and exceptional decision-making at the start and keeping Hamilton behind. On top of that, he also played a pivotal role in Red Bull’s recovery after a difficult Friday.
In many circumstances the blockage that ruined his final qualifying lap would have denied him a place in this tier, but the mitigating circumstances of traffic’s contribution to that save him – although the one-place grid penalty for Friday’s nonsense with Liam Lawson is also a small negative that in other circumstances might have dropped him to a lower tier.
Ryō HirakawaThe latter’s unique circumstances mean he must be judged by standards that would normally be generous for the work he has done after taking over from Esteban Ocon. He was flirting with the idea of reaching Q2 before colliding with the turbulent air of Alex Albon in the middle sector of his final run in Q1, meaning the gap to Bearman was exaggerated. He then drove a combative race, passing both Williams drivers late in the race for a well-deserved point once penalties were applied.
Liam Lawson recovered from setbacks to score points. He started from the pits but despite the timing of the red flag not helping him, he made steady progress then rose from 15th place on the standing restart to take what was ultimately the mid-pack victory after penalties were applied.
For Lewis Hamiltonit was a good weekend for him in turn 4 where both drivers braked too late to take the corner. If he had avoided that, he would probably trade places with Verstappen. His first pole position since 2023 was also brilliantly achieved.
While Sergio Perez‘s race was compromised by a five-second penalty for speeding in the pits (by 0.2 km/h), the team blamed this on a sensor problem. But even though Pérez was a little disappointed in qualifying due to poorly set settings, he ran superbly in the first stint before losing time to a wheel gun problem and then a subsequent penalty.
Ollie BearmanThe weekend suffered a major blow when he had to switch to the old Ferrari ADUO1 specification engine during testing. Despite this, he was fast although a track limits violation prevented him from maximizing his qualifying. He had a decent race until he was hit from behind by Nico Hulkenberg through no fault of his own. Under normal circumstances, he would have been ranked higher than his teammate, but this order reflects the unusual situation Hirakawa found himself in.
While Kimi Antonelli After winning the world championship, he was in poor shape, both in terms of health and pace in qualifying, and was unable to compete with George Russell. He ran a neat and orderly race, running long and stopping just before the race was red flagged, and earned the right to celebrate his title on the podium.
Gabriel Bortoleto was perhaps marginally the fastest Audi driver in terms of tops, but his absence in FP1 and then problems in FP2 and FP3 limited him to just three flying laps before qualifying. He went on to set the sixth-fastest lap of Q1 and handled his “a bit blind” well in preparing for the race relays, with penalties turning 11th on the road into eighth.
Fernando Alonso‘s weekend is difficult to judge given the issues that interrupted qualifying and the race, so overall it’s hard to place him anywhere other than the mid-tier, although his pace looked strong enough to have climbed higher if he’d had a good chance.
Lando Norris couldn’t repeat his Q2 form in Q3 in the hard-to-drive McLaren and ultimately wasn’t as high on the grid as he could have been. He might also have been able to pass Leclerc in the latter part of the race, meaning he brought the McLaren home in a good position but not as high as it could have been.
Williams driver Albon inevitably struggled in a limited mechanism. His teammate Carlos Sainz had the best in qualifying, although Albon felt his final lap was one of the best of the season once you take into account the traffic that cost him some very important turbo speed early in the lap, and had the advantage in the race. However, the late loss of position against Hirakawa ultimately cost him a point.
While Arvid Lindblad played a role in the collision with Oscar Piastri that led to his retirement due to his late braking into Turn 1, the stewards ultimately held the McLaren driver responsible for the ensuing collision. Lindblad showed good pace, especially in Q2, but felt Q3 was a missed opportunity.
Isack Hadjar wasn’t happy with his messy qualifying lap, but he still put in a respectable lap time. He recovered well from his first-lap spin after contact with Russell, for which the stewards held the Mercedes driver responsible, although Hadjar perhaps should have allowed a little cautionary space given they had been side by side in Turn 5 before the clash at Turn 6. He ran decently although luck was not on his side until he was rewarded with a ninth-place finish by penalties for other drivers.
Sainz may have overqualified Albon, but that battle was turned upside down by his teammate’s slow start to the lap due to traffic and he was slower for much of the lap. This trend continued during a difficult race, although he ultimately wasn’t far behind.
Valtteri Bottas acted solely as a tow vehicle during qualifying given his grid penalty, but appeared to lack the advantage that Perez had. He had a neat ride until the left front suspension gave out.
Russell put in a superb lap in Q3 that could have clinched pole position with a proper fuel load. However, his weekend revolved around a deployment issue initially, which wasn’t his fault. But in the end, he should have been more pragmatic against Hadjar given the high amount of a penalty which condemned him to finish sixth. With good power at the start, he could have been a contender for the win, which in many ways sums up his season.
Franco Colapinto was a little behind Pierre Gasly on Friday and Saturday, but a great first lap put him on track to finish a strong eighth place on the road. However, his placing is lower than it would have been thanks to his failure to respond to the single yellow flag exiting Turn 3 which led to a 10-second penalty. A minor mistake – and not as egregious as Gasly’s – but a very costly one.
Pace was not a problem for Charles Leclercwho perhaps had a slight advantage over Hamilton. However, the negatives started in qualifying, where he likely lost pole position due to failing to successfully prepare the tires on his final run. He then made two errors in the race, the first at turn 4 with his late braking attack to the outside, which ultimately created the conditions for Ferrari to lose the race. The second mistake was arguably worse, in his desperation to attack his stranded teammate at Turn 1 on the restart while trying to cut to the inside and suffering a flat that he carried for the rest of the race.
Like Alonso, Lance’s Walk He had few opportunities to show what he could do, but he also had the chance to run throughout Q1, unlike his teammate, and was still 0.164 seconds slower.
Piastri‘s underlying pace was better than it looked and he bounced back well from a confusing Q2. That struggle must count against him, as does the collision with Lindblad, because while he can rightly be unhappy with Lindblad’s late move under braking and claim it forced him to go around the outside, it ultimately put him in danger given the racing guidelines and cost him a strong result thanks to the penalty.
Gasly had a good run on Friday and Saturday, qualifying correctly but then losing ground due to a deployment problem at the start. He ran well despite an early pit stop, but getting penalized for failing to respect double yellows was a careless mistake that ruined his weekend and cost him a good result.
HulkenbergThe weekend was catastrophically undermined by a single mistake. He was caught by the accordion in Turn 4 on the restart as he battled with Lawson and Bearman at the rear. It was an understandable but avoidable mistake given the inevitable traffic jam on a restart lap, and one that compromised a weekend that would otherwise have placed him in the top half.
Gn sports
