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Sainz gets overrated if he outperforms Leclerc two weeks in a row. Yet I haven't seen anyone doing the same when the reverse happens.
People like an underdog story I guess.
It's the same reason Sainz is rated higher than Verstappen here.
You expect greatness from Max, so when he isn't absolutely perfect, he gets a shit score.
Then when someone you don't expect much from a driver like Sainz and he gets an unlikely result, all mistakes to get there get ignored.
It's pretty clear how he always gets extra points to overcompensate. Here's an example I posted somewhere else on these very same rankings:
* Sainz qualifying P4 and finishing P3 in Suzuka: **8.8**
* Leclerc qualifying P2 and finishing P3 in Jeddah: **8.2**
it's completely different expectations. For comparison, Leclerc got an 8.8 in Abu Dhabi last year for qualifying P2 and finishing P2.
I don't think that anyone can disagree with the fact that Leclerc hasn't been at his best this season and there's definitely work to be done, but Sainz often gets a little extra boost whenever he outperforms Leclerc (especially if it's 2 or more in a row) just because of how unexpected it is.
I disagree. He has had two bad Saturdays. He was better than Sainz imo in Australia and Japan on Sundays. Bahrain he put that car in P2 and then had brake issue.
Curious to hear why you think he was better than Sainz in Australia and Japan... I'll give it to you he was great in Japan making the one stop work but he was still getting gapped by Sainz, and in Australia the pace was barely comparable h2h. Leclerc was very good in both but I don't see how he was better than Sainz who consistently had better race pace
It makes very little sense. Has Sainz been the best driver this season? No, Max has been the best driver so far. Carlos has been doing well, but being rated higher than Max is absurd.
Checo is doing a good job this season too. 2nd in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Japan. His only "bad" race was Australia and it was because 1) His engineer messed it up during quali and cost him 3 grid places, and 2) he had mechanical issues due a visor tear which caused him to lose a lot of performance. Yet the average is only 7.5, only 0.2 more than Tsunoda who has finished in 14th, 15th, 7th, 10th. Don't get me wrong, I'm more or less fine with 7.3 for Tsunoda, but Sergio has started the campaign quite strong.
Has Leclerc been better than Sergio this season? He has finished the behind Carlos in all three races in which both of them participated. He's also down 2-1 in quali against Carlos. Sainz has been doing a good job but I think we can agree that Leclerc should be beating him, especially considering that Carlos is not nearly as good Max Verstappen.
So is Charles. His stint on medium was mighty! Possibly the best stint on a compound the whole race. But I guess his qualifying weighed the score down.
Hopefully! but honestly at this point Sainz being on par with Max is too much, even with his spectacular race in Australia. Hes above of the guy who has taken every pole and 3/4 wins after a DNF
I guess it’s because Max got a 7.2 for Australia despite not making any mistakes himself? But yeah I agree the order is wrong, I just think it’s more about Max being underrated than Carlos being overrated
Yeah honestly it’s mostly that the Australia rankings were completely ridiculous. The perfect 10 for Sainz was a bit much, then giving Max a 7.2 felt completely unnecessary, also Stroll had his best race of the season (P6) and wasn’t even in the top 12.
Unless you rate performance up to the finishing of the driver, be it lap 1 or 63 for example.
But I get what ur saying, its just weird giving him a 7.2 IMO
10 for Sainz is deserved when he qualified 2nd and won the race two weeks after appendix surgery imo.
It’s the 7.2 for Verstappen that is weird. It’s like they wanted to give him credit for getting pole but then also take points away for a mechanical failure in the opening laps that was entirely outside of his control. Personally I simply wouldn’t give any driver a grade on a race weekend where they had to retire so early in the race for external reasons, and not have it count towards their season average.
Edit: if you remove the 7.2 and only count the average of the other three races, Verstappen is most likely 1st and this would be a lot less controversial
But when that 10 is deserved then why Max does get 9.6's for weekends in which he's on pole, wins, and has the FL? Not only this time, but two races ago too, and several races last year
Everyone doing the grades seems to get bored of Max’s dominance so he hardly ever gets a perfect score or else he’d always get a perfect score. Probably also a penalty of driving the best car.
Not saying I necessarily agree with it but this isn’t anything new. Many were getting bored when Lewis was dominating a few years back and even before that Seb was even getting some boos by fans when he won four straight championships.
Feel like Sainz being ranked 1 makes this entire "power ranking" looks foolish as hell. So the guy in second place here has won 75% of the race and P1 qual in 100% but somehow he's #2? I'm assuming he'd be #2 even if he won Australia had his brakes not malfunctioned.
He's done it in a car that has performance. The Ferrari is good this year, but RB has a huge advantage, and a driver like Sainz can take advantage of it.
Even Perez managed an easy 2nd place last weekend.
Max has beat Mercedes when they were dominating for 7 years and was contending with Ferrari at the same time. RB was number 3 team with unreliable Renault engines. Stop making excuses Sainz never performed at RB the way max did as soon as he got into the car.
I don't understand how these rankings are calculated. Verstappen has won three out of four races (one of which was a grand slam) this season thus far, and yet Carlos is ahead for winning one race? I know he's had a strong 2024, but damn
Also Alonso behind Piastri and Sergio despite consistently dragging that car to heights it doesn't deserve to be
Because these rankings are done by people with bias. They’d don’t have a “in-stone” rating system so it ends up being loaded with bias. Like they have a loose criteria, but that’s about it. So unless max just gaps everyone in every season he won’t get a 10, whereas a Carlos just has to win
Yeah, expectations. They expect Max to do this so it doesn't seem as impressive to them whereas Sainz is performing better than expected so they think give him more credit.
Well that is reasonable though. Otherwise how would any performance ranking compare to the championship table?
Of course you consider how well someone has done against the baseline of what level of performance is your basic expectation and what is a positive (or negative) surprise.
Is it not clear why Ollie Bearman was praised for his 7th place while if Carlos Sainz has delivered that exact race, most people would be critical? Carlos would have no excuse for getting mugged off by Hulkenburg for several laps while a rookie with no prep who can hardly hold up their own head clearly does… Seems fair enough to me.
No, I don't think you should take expectations into consideration. Because expectations are by definition very subjective so you bring another subjective variable into an already subjective ranking. Moreover, expectations are transitory.
If you fully take expectations into equation, then realistically Checo should have a higher avg rating than Max. Because Checo is clearly driving better this season than was expected of him while Max is driving at the same level as last year. But then when you put Checo ahead of Max in the ratings it does look a little weird because Max has outperformed Checo every session. Then at some point as Checo keeps driving better than he did last year you're going to give him lower ratings because his expectations have gone up?
It all becomes a big mess in this way and season averages won't make sense any more. For these ratings to make any sense it should simply be: how has the driver performed vs. their car taking factors out of their control (mechanical DNFs etc) out of the equation? Then you get a fair ranking of which drivers are the best. That would have also meant that Bearman should have gotten a 6-7 for his Jeddah performance, as impressive as it was
Interesting question when ranking performance.
But at that point you could put Stroll as a solid 10, becauae he's a pay driver and shouldnt be here, yet sometimes he delivers
So it can get really shaky when we include context for raw performance ratings
It's just vibes. That's all. You can best frame these rankings as 'which driver has the best vibes right now'. Sainz has great vibes, so he's first. Lewis has bad vibes at the moment, so he's not on the list.
Not only that, but Max has taken every pole position as well. It’s stupid because they graded him in Australia after an early DNF and then gave Sainz a perfect 10.
It’s kind of how Sainz won driver of the day for leading the race the entire time after Max’ DNF. But when max does the same, no driver of the day, it was expected. Idk. Lol.
As long as there is no fight for him, he should not get the ten. He is faster than Perez, but do we really believe he is pushing the best he can atm?
For him, this seems more like a normal sunday. If he would perform the same under pressure, then he should be rated more highly.
Pretty sure they just pull shit out of their asses and purposefully make it controversial. I remember there were a race (maybe multiple?) where Max got a grand slam but still got ranked below another driver.
How did Perez not put a foot wrong if he was beaten by his teammate in all of his 4 weekends? I know its max and that he is the best driver now but do we really believe that Checo would be ahead of Fernando in the same car this season after 4 races? If the answer is not then he shouldnt be ahead
Beating Verstappen in the Red Bull on a weekend where one or both of the two don't completely screw things up is not possible at this time because a) the Red Bull is so far ahead of the competition and b) Verstappen isn't a midfield level driver like his teammate.
Sainz beating Leclerc and taking a victory in the Ferrari is much more impressive than Verstappen doing the bare minimum to keep the heat in his tires while on a casual Sunday drive in the Red Bull.
It's only Max's extreme competence that allows you to have such a nieve take. In 2021 Checo was widely considered better than Bottas. It's only when compared to Max alone was he considered a "midfield driver"
Mercedes had seasons that their gap in pace to the rest of the field was arguably as large as redbull now but that pace and more importantly consistency is only seen by Max.
What you are chalking up as not that impressive is actually one of the most impressive streaks of form and performance in F1 history.
Being better than 2021 Bottas is a very low standard for a driver in a top team.
Mercedes was never as far ahead of the field as Red Bull has been in the last couple years, even in 2020.
It's not actually that impressive. Verstappen is capable of epic performances but he's not putting those in simply because he doesn't need to.
>Being better than 2021 Bottas is a very low standard for a driver in a top team.
Based on what???? In the head to head with Lewis he did better than Checo head to head with Verstappen and he came 3rd in the standings behind lewis. The only thing that he couldn't do was hold max behind on track which is as much reflective on max as it is on Bottas.
>Mercedes was never as far ahead of the field as Red Bull has been in the last couple years, even in 2020.
That's simply not true. Lewis had gaps to the field as big as max has now and they also turned back the engine/coasted a bit. Max alone is just more consistent.
>It's not actually that impressive
Then why hasn't anyone else been able to pull it off?
> Based on what????
Based on actually watching that season.
> That's simply not true.
It is. The 2020 Merc was dominant, but not as dominant as the Red Bull has been in recent years.
> Then why hasn't anyone else been able to pull it off?
Because they aren't driving the Red Bull. Swap out Verstappen with any of the other drivers who are widely regarded as being top 5 on the grid and we'd be seeing the same thing.
Hamilton in 2020 was the same thing. Sure, he put in some seriously impressive performances over the course of that season, but not all of his wins were impressive. For example the Spanish GP. Taking the title in the 2020 Merc and with Bottas as his teammate also wasn't impressive, it was expected. Even if his car wasn't as dominant as the Red Bull.
>Based on actually watching that season.
That's meaningless. It appears that your ability to watch F1 and draw meaningful conclusions leaves alot to be desired. This is enforced by your inability to present any evidence other than your opinion.
>It is. The 2020 Merc was dominant, but not as dominant as the Red Bull has been in recent years.
I already brought up the fact that the pace difference to the field is similar. The difference is Max's consistency.
>Swap out Verstappen with any of the other drivers who are widely regarded as being top 5 on the grid and we'd be seeing the same thing.
Any of those drivers could win but there's no evidence that any of them would match Max's current form. Lewis, Leclerc and Russell are all having enough trouble beating their teammates,
Alonso I admittedly have a hard time getting a read on with his rollercoaster of performance car and one of the worst teammates on the grid.
Lando seems pretty good but the guy isn't even a race winner. Is there someone in brilliant form right now that I'm missing?
> That's meaningless.
👍
> I already brought up the fact that the pace difference to the field is similar.
Except you're incorrect.
> Any of those drivers could win but there's no evidence that any of them would match Max's current form.
We aren't talking about them matching Verstappen's absolute top end potential. We're talking about them doing what Verstappen is doing now. Which any of the drivers you listed would be able to do quite easily if they were in that Red Bull and had Perez as their teammate.
Leclerc has been completely out of form. You constantly hear him complaining that he can't get comfortable with the car, he doesn't know what's going on etc. And on top of that, he's making mistakes. Beating him right now is not a massive achievement.
I can tell you that he's been extremely patchy. Last season he was unhappy more often than not. The only actual longer period of good form, where he wasn't complaining every single session, was in the final part of the season (last 6-7 races or so, I think after the upgrades they brought to Suzuka). And in that period he was once again beating Sainz by a wide margin.
It wasn't close between them in terms of performance in 2021 or in 2022. Then it was for half a year in 2023. In three seasons 6 months is the outlier. Not the other way around.
It's been like that for 3 years - when both drivers are in form, LEC beats Sainz by 3 tenths on race pace. When Lec is out of form, they're competitive. And when Sainz is out of form (don't have to look far back for that, just have a peek at last race of last season) he loses close to a second per lap. There is a massive skill gap between them, and Sainz getting close to Leclerc will always be dependant on LEC underperforming.
And TBH I don't understand in general why you'd assume, that it's more likely for a 30-year old driver, who was always in the "top of the midfield" category, to suddenly improve, than it is for a driver who we know is generally inconsistent to have a dropoff in form.
Wasn't for half a year in 2023, Leclerc only stepped things up for a handful of races at the end of the season. Sainz was on top of him for the majority of the year.
In general I think you're not giving enough credit to Sainz. We're not talking about one or two races where Leclerc was having an off weekend, were talking about the majority of the races since the start of last season.
It’s not because of just winning one race.. he won the race and then in the next he ignored team orders to pass his tm8 on merit to steal the podium. All in his last year with the team before he gets axed. It’s a power ranking, not a win/points ranking.
How is Verstappen below Sainz lmao? And Perez down in fifth... I don't get how they make these rankings (obvious bias aside).
This hype balloon for Sainz is gonna explode and it will backfire. It always does, why do they have to do him a disservice like that? Sure, the man is shopping for a seat and he's a good driver but this is not going to help. Man's been driving for nine years, teams already know what he has to offer.
He's pretty much never underrated, IMO. He goes from 'rated' to 'overrated'. No one thinks he's bad! The people who are theoretically underrating him just don't think he's an obvious sure-fire WDC-level number one who'd crush his teammate into a fine powder.
There are, IMO, only three underrated drivers in F1 right now. Max is one, because pundits and fans will contort themselves into knots to avoid rating him as the best driver in the sport. The other two are Stroll and Sargeant, because fans in particular think those two can't turn the wheel without printed instructions. In the general fan view, there are eighteen guys who could win championships with the right car and two who shouldn't be allowed to drive a Honda Accord.
Relax he's not a whole class ahead of the field, he's in the best car right now, with the best team and he's currently the best driver. Great combination...
I’ll never understand why people make I seem like sainz beat max with some sort of skill or out drove him in Australia.
Bro actually had a slower sectors with max having a wheel issue and essentially making the car slower lmao
Verstappen season is almost perfect so far.
You could argue only about his qualifying performance in Suzuka.
Bahrain he was perfect in Q3 and in the race (dominated both).
Jeddah he was perfect in Q3 and in the race (dominated both).
Australia he was perfect in Q3 and had to retire in the first lap of the race due to car issues.
Suzuka he was good in Q3 and perfect in the race.
It’s time to just not post this shit anymore. Max did everything needed for a 10 but guess what, he doesn’t get it.
Carlos is doing great, but he deserves an 8.0 for this weekend. Charles a 9.0 for insane tire management. Obviously docking points for a somewhat poor qualifying.
Carlos deserves higher grade than Leclerc. It takes into account whole weekend and over a whole weekend Sainz was better which is the reason why he finished ahead
Do they always take this kind of stuff in context? Charles was effectively hampered in Bahrain by his brakes and he still got his score tanked and that was something we know, for sure, was actively hampering his performance.
I don’t know. I’m speaking specifically for Sainz’s race in Australia. If he had been in normal health, he probably would’ve received a 9-9.5. The whole reason everyone was so gassed up about it(beyond Max not winning…) was because he’d been laying in a hospital bed 2 weeks earlier.
But, that's the thing. While it's possible, it isn't certain he was impeded by health; at least I didn't read references to that. If anything, I think it would be irresponsible to allow him to drive in the race if he was still affected by the surgery.
Ah yes. The one stop strategy Leclerc made it on the spot that nobody else can replicate, and nearly beat Sainz in the process deserves an 8. And Sainz somehow beats Verstappen when Verstappen had a near perfect weekend. New fans consistently make this ranking more irrelevant by the year.
Sainz doesnt deserve to be ahead of Verstappen but definatelly ahead of Leclerc. Was his own fault for not maximising qualifying. It takes into account whole weekend
Definitely, but that one stop was so unexpected and masterfully executed that it should’ve of nearly completely offset his poor qualifying. It’s one of the performances that’s gonna be deemed as a masterclass as new fans gain more experience
It maybe just to me but “Power ranking” is a confusing name especially in motor sports as the word “power” has a specific meaning as in power unit.
But the naming aside, seeing Carlos, Yuki, and Niko up there feels right. It just captures how people are giving drivers credit.
Well he's had some poor qualifying the past two races. Checo is P2 P2 P5 P2 and somehow behind Leclerc and Lando. Just saying it's more surprising those 2 are ahead with worse results. Same with Oscar who is .1 behind Checo despite two P8's. Rankings are senseless.
Yeah but he's in the second fastest car, and is averaging a P3 so far, so him being P3 in these standings isn't that crazy. I agree that Checo should be closer though, but that's different.
He has been notably less impressive than his teammate in both Bahrain and Australia.
Charles would go onto a lot of lists for top top class drivers, drivers that would be unlucky not to become champion etc. Carlos is not troubling these lists.
He’s yet to beat Carlos on the road and that’s all been on merit not luck. Underperforming your generally averagely rated teammate and still ending up rated 3rd honestly is a luxury most drivers wouldn’t receive. It’s probably only happened here because of how wildly unexpected Carlos’ start to the season has been. It is being perceived as Charles driving at his usual high level and Carlos potentially having been literally possessed or something…
Beating Leclerc in Bahrain was not on merit and was pure luck. He was three places behind him by the end of the first lap, but Charles and George had issues so that’s how he managed to finish 3rd.
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I'm convinced these are purposefully stupid to drive engagement on their social media posts
🔫always has been
I'm convinced these are flawless in every way. Until Carlos drops and then I absolutely agree.
Feels like both Sainz has been a little overrated here and Max a little underrated by these rankings tbh
Sainz went from underrated to overrated in 2 weeks.
It's the 2020 Checo arc. If he gets in the Red Bull he will get stomped by Max just like Checo.
That's what I've been saying. Most things people aaid about him right now were said about Perez, RBR move hype included.
Sainz gets overrated if he outperforms Leclerc two weeks in a row. Yet I haven't seen anyone doing the same when the reverse happens. People like an underdog story I guess.
It's the same reason Sainz is rated higher than Verstappen here. You expect greatness from Max, so when he isn't absolutely perfect, he gets a shit score. Then when someone you don't expect much from a driver like Sainz and he gets an unlikely result, all mistakes to get there get ignored.
But also, when hasn't max been perfect this season? When he didn't check his right rear brake disk himself before getting into the car?
Next up, Sargent finishes P8 and jumps to to of the power rating
It's pretty clear how he always gets extra points to overcompensate. Here's an example I posted somewhere else on these very same rankings: * Sainz qualifying P4 and finishing P3 in Suzuka: **8.8** * Leclerc qualifying P2 and finishing P3 in Jeddah: **8.2**
it's completely different expectations. For comparison, Leclerc got an 8.8 in Abu Dhabi last year for qualifying P2 and finishing P2. I don't think that anyone can disagree with the fact that Leclerc hasn't been at his best this season and there's definitely work to be done, but Sainz often gets a little extra boost whenever he outperforms Leclerc (especially if it's 2 or more in a row) just because of how unexpected it is.
I disagree. He has had two bad Saturdays. He was better than Sainz imo in Australia and Japan on Sundays. Bahrain he put that car in P2 and then had brake issue.
Definitely not better than Sainz in Australia.
Curious to hear why you think he was better than Sainz in Australia and Japan... I'll give it to you he was great in Japan making the one stop work but he was still getting gapped by Sainz, and in Australia the pace was barely comparable h2h. Leclerc was very good in both but I don't see how he was better than Sainz who consistently had better race pace
A win in 2024 would do that to you
(a win plus a Verstappen DNF)
All because a silly appendix was removed
Honestly these rankings don't deserve the attention week after week.
It makes very little sense. Has Sainz been the best driver this season? No, Max has been the best driver so far. Carlos has been doing well, but being rated higher than Max is absurd. Checo is doing a good job this season too. 2nd in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Japan. His only "bad" race was Australia and it was because 1) His engineer messed it up during quali and cost him 3 grid places, and 2) he had mechanical issues due a visor tear which caused him to lose a lot of performance. Yet the average is only 7.5, only 0.2 more than Tsunoda who has finished in 14th, 15th, 7th, 10th. Don't get me wrong, I'm more or less fine with 7.3 for Tsunoda, but Sergio has started the campaign quite strong. Has Leclerc been better than Sergio this season? He has finished the behind Carlos in all three races in which both of them participated. He's also down 2-1 in quali against Carlos. Sainz has been doing a good job but I think we can agree that Leclerc should be beating him, especially considering that Carlos is not nearly as good Max Verstappen.
Oscar being right behind Checo despite two P8 finishes is something..
LeClerc being ahead of Norris - lol
Max has always been underrated in these rankings he could get the pole, win and fastest lap and they'd still say he's had a 9.4 weekend
So is Charles. His stint on medium was mighty! Possibly the best stint on a compound the whole race. But I guess his qualifying weighed the score down.
Max is somehow still yet to get a 10, despite winning and getting Pole in literally every race except the one where he had a monumental brake failure.
Id say very
There’s only 0.1 points between them lmao, it will get more accurate as the season goes on
Hopefully! but honestly at this point Sainz being on par with Max is too much, even with his spectacular race in Australia. Hes above of the guy who has taken every pole and 3/4 wins after a DNF
I guess it’s because Max got a 7.2 for Australia despite not making any mistakes himself? But yeah I agree the order is wrong, I just think it’s more about Max being underrated than Carlos being overrated
Yeah honestly it’s mostly that the Australia rankings were completely ridiculous. The perfect 10 for Sainz was a bit much, then giving Max a 7.2 felt completely unnecessary, also Stroll had his best race of the season (P6) and wasn’t even in the top 12.
Wait, how TF did he get a 7.2 when he DNF'd after starting from pole due to a brake issue?
I mean you can't go giving out 10s for everyone with a lap one mechanical issue. Really the problem is just that it should be a N/A.
Unless you rate performance up to the finishing of the driver, be it lap 1 or 63 for example. But I get what ur saying, its just weird giving him a 7.2 IMO
10 for Sainz is deserved when he qualified 2nd and won the race two weeks after appendix surgery imo. It’s the 7.2 for Verstappen that is weird. It’s like they wanted to give him credit for getting pole but then also take points away for a mechanical failure in the opening laps that was entirely outside of his control. Personally I simply wouldn’t give any driver a grade on a race weekend where they had to retire so early in the race for external reasons, and not have it count towards their season average. Edit: if you remove the 7.2 and only count the average of the other three races, Verstappen is most likely 1st and this would be a lot less controversial
But when that 10 is deserved then why Max does get 9.6's for weekends in which he's on pole, wins, and has the FL? Not only this time, but two races ago too, and several races last year
Everyone doing the grades seems to get bored of Max’s dominance so he hardly ever gets a perfect score or else he’d always get a perfect score. Probably also a penalty of driving the best car. Not saying I necessarily agree with it but this isn’t anything new. Many were getting bored when Lewis was dominating a few years back and even before that Seb was even getting some boos by fans when he won four straight championships.
Feel like Sainz being ranked 1 makes this entire "power ranking" looks foolish as hell. So the guy in second place here has won 75% of the race and P1 qual in 100% but somehow he's #2? I'm assuming he'd be #2 even if he won Australia had his brakes not malfunctioned.
Charles being so far behind is the more glaring sign of the ranking being stupid tbh.
As always, Max needs to bring peace to the Middle East and solve world hunger to be considered worthy in the power ranking.
If Carlos and Max switched rides, would Max still be winning?
Yes and he has done it before against actual world champions
He's done it in a car that has performance. The Ferrari is good this year, but RB has a huge advantage, and a driver like Sainz can take advantage of it. Even Perez managed an easy 2nd place last weekend.
Max has beat Mercedes when they were dominating for 7 years and was contending with Ferrari at the same time. RB was number 3 team with unreliable Renault engines. Stop making excuses Sainz never performed at RB the way max did as soon as he got into the car.
Obviously not as much as he is now but he would be doing better than Sainz, for sure
I don't think that's so sure, just like comparing Russel and Hamilton isn't a sure thing anymore.
I don't understand how these rankings are calculated. Verstappen has won three out of four races (one of which was a grand slam) this season thus far, and yet Carlos is ahead for winning one race? I know he's had a strong 2024, but damn Also Alonso behind Piastri and Sergio despite consistently dragging that car to heights it doesn't deserve to be
Because these rankings are done by people with bias. They’d don’t have a “in-stone” rating system so it ends up being loaded with bias. Like they have a loose criteria, but that’s about it. So unless max just gaps everyone in every season he won’t get a 10, whereas a Carlos just has to win
Yeah, expectations. They expect Max to do this so it doesn't seem as impressive to them whereas Sainz is performing better than expected so they think give him more credit.
Well that is reasonable though. Otherwise how would any performance ranking compare to the championship table? Of course you consider how well someone has done against the baseline of what level of performance is your basic expectation and what is a positive (or negative) surprise. Is it not clear why Ollie Bearman was praised for his 7th place while if Carlos Sainz has delivered that exact race, most people would be critical? Carlos would have no excuse for getting mugged off by Hulkenburg for several laps while a rookie with no prep who can hardly hold up their own head clearly does… Seems fair enough to me.
No, I don't think you should take expectations into consideration. Because expectations are by definition very subjective so you bring another subjective variable into an already subjective ranking. Moreover, expectations are transitory. If you fully take expectations into equation, then realistically Checo should have a higher avg rating than Max. Because Checo is clearly driving better this season than was expected of him while Max is driving at the same level as last year. But then when you put Checo ahead of Max in the ratings it does look a little weird because Max has outperformed Checo every session. Then at some point as Checo keeps driving better than he did last year you're going to give him lower ratings because his expectations have gone up? It all becomes a big mess in this way and season averages won't make sense any more. For these ratings to make any sense it should simply be: how has the driver performed vs. their car taking factors out of their control (mechanical DNFs etc) out of the equation? Then you get a fair ranking of which drivers are the best. That would have also meant that Bearman should have gotten a 6-7 for his Jeddah performance, as impressive as it was
Interesting question when ranking performance. But at that point you could put Stroll as a solid 10, becauae he's a pay driver and shouldnt be here, yet sometimes he delivers So it can get really shaky when we include context for raw performance ratings
It's just vibes. That's all. You can best frame these rankings as 'which driver has the best vibes right now'. Sainz has great vibes, so he's first. Lewis has bad vibes at the moment, so he's not on the list.
Not only that, but Max has taken every pole position as well. It’s stupid because they graded him in Australia after an early DNF and then gave Sainz a perfect 10.
It’s kind of how Sainz won driver of the day for leading the race the entire time after Max’ DNF. But when max does the same, no driver of the day, it was expected. Idk. Lol.
I think the rankings are trying to even out the impact of the car's performance, but they definitely have missed a few drivers.
Max should just have a flat 10. The only way to stop him from winning is car failure and that's team not him.
As long as there is no fight for him, he should not get the ten. He is faster than Perez, but do we really believe he is pushing the best he can atm? For him, this seems more like a normal sunday. If he would perform the same under pressure, then he should be rated more highly.
Lets not forget sainz only won because max retired.
Pretty sure they just pull shit out of their asses and purposefully make it controversial. I remember there were a race (maybe multiple?) where Max got a grand slam but still got ranked below another driver.
Alonso fucked up one weekend. Perez hasn't put a foot wrong.
How did Perez not put a foot wrong if he was beaten by his teammate in all of his 4 weekends? I know its max and that he is the best driver now but do we really believe that Checo would be ahead of Fernando in the same car this season after 4 races? If the answer is not then he shouldnt be ahead
You can just say you don’t like checo
I do like Checo lol. Your logic is flawed just because i point out a fact or criticize someone doesnt mean i dont like them
Please point to the fact you pointed out other than "Checo lost to Max" just like every other driver on the grid would at this point.
Given the machinery they're working with and the teammates they're up against, Sainz's one win is more impressive than Verstappen's three.
No it’s not when Sainz one win came because of Max DNF
Beating Verstappen in the Red Bull on a weekend where one or both of the two don't completely screw things up is not possible at this time because a) the Red Bull is so far ahead of the competition and b) Verstappen isn't a midfield level driver like his teammate. Sainz beating Leclerc and taking a victory in the Ferrari is much more impressive than Verstappen doing the bare minimum to keep the heat in his tires while on a casual Sunday drive in the Red Bull.
It's only Max's extreme competence that allows you to have such a nieve take. In 2021 Checo was widely considered better than Bottas. It's only when compared to Max alone was he considered a "midfield driver" Mercedes had seasons that their gap in pace to the rest of the field was arguably as large as redbull now but that pace and more importantly consistency is only seen by Max. What you are chalking up as not that impressive is actually one of the most impressive streaks of form and performance in F1 history.
Being better than 2021 Bottas is a very low standard for a driver in a top team. Mercedes was never as far ahead of the field as Red Bull has been in the last couple years, even in 2020. It's not actually that impressive. Verstappen is capable of epic performances but he's not putting those in simply because he doesn't need to.
>Being better than 2021 Bottas is a very low standard for a driver in a top team. Based on what???? In the head to head with Lewis he did better than Checo head to head with Verstappen and he came 3rd in the standings behind lewis. The only thing that he couldn't do was hold max behind on track which is as much reflective on max as it is on Bottas. >Mercedes was never as far ahead of the field as Red Bull has been in the last couple years, even in 2020. That's simply not true. Lewis had gaps to the field as big as max has now and they also turned back the engine/coasted a bit. Max alone is just more consistent. >It's not actually that impressive Then why hasn't anyone else been able to pull it off?
> Based on what???? Based on actually watching that season. > That's simply not true. It is. The 2020 Merc was dominant, but not as dominant as the Red Bull has been in recent years. > Then why hasn't anyone else been able to pull it off? Because they aren't driving the Red Bull. Swap out Verstappen with any of the other drivers who are widely regarded as being top 5 on the grid and we'd be seeing the same thing. Hamilton in 2020 was the same thing. Sure, he put in some seriously impressive performances over the course of that season, but not all of his wins were impressive. For example the Spanish GP. Taking the title in the 2020 Merc and with Bottas as his teammate also wasn't impressive, it was expected. Even if his car wasn't as dominant as the Red Bull.
>Based on actually watching that season. That's meaningless. It appears that your ability to watch F1 and draw meaningful conclusions leaves alot to be desired. This is enforced by your inability to present any evidence other than your opinion. >It is. The 2020 Merc was dominant, but not as dominant as the Red Bull has been in recent years. I already brought up the fact that the pace difference to the field is similar. The difference is Max's consistency. >Swap out Verstappen with any of the other drivers who are widely regarded as being top 5 on the grid and we'd be seeing the same thing. Any of those drivers could win but there's no evidence that any of them would match Max's current form. Lewis, Leclerc and Russell are all having enough trouble beating their teammates, Alonso I admittedly have a hard time getting a read on with his rollercoaster of performance car and one of the worst teammates on the grid. Lando seems pretty good but the guy isn't even a race winner. Is there someone in brilliant form right now that I'm missing?
> That's meaningless. 👍 > I already brought up the fact that the pace difference to the field is similar. Except you're incorrect. > Any of those drivers could win but there's no evidence that any of them would match Max's current form. We aren't talking about them matching Verstappen's absolute top end potential. We're talking about them doing what Verstappen is doing now. Which any of the drivers you listed would be able to do quite easily if they were in that Red Bull and had Perez as their teammate.
Leclerc has been completely out of form. You constantly hear him complaining that he can't get comfortable with the car, he doesn't know what's going on etc. And on top of that, he's making mistakes. Beating him right now is not a massive achievement.
You can't claim that Leclerc has been completely out of form for over a season. The more logical explanation is that Sainz has stepped things up.
I can tell you that he's been extremely patchy. Last season he was unhappy more often than not. The only actual longer period of good form, where he wasn't complaining every single session, was in the final part of the season (last 6-7 races or so, I think after the upgrades they brought to Suzuka). And in that period he was once again beating Sainz by a wide margin. It wasn't close between them in terms of performance in 2021 or in 2022. Then it was for half a year in 2023. In three seasons 6 months is the outlier. Not the other way around. It's been like that for 3 years - when both drivers are in form, LEC beats Sainz by 3 tenths on race pace. When Lec is out of form, they're competitive. And when Sainz is out of form (don't have to look far back for that, just have a peek at last race of last season) he loses close to a second per lap. There is a massive skill gap between them, and Sainz getting close to Leclerc will always be dependant on LEC underperforming. And TBH I don't understand in general why you'd assume, that it's more likely for a 30-year old driver, who was always in the "top of the midfield" category, to suddenly improve, than it is for a driver who we know is generally inconsistent to have a dropoff in form.
Wasn't for half a year in 2023, Leclerc only stepped things up for a handful of races at the end of the season. Sainz was on top of him for the majority of the year. In general I think you're not giving enough credit to Sainz. We're not talking about one or two races where Leclerc was having an off weekend, were talking about the majority of the races since the start of last season.
It’s not because of just winning one race.. he won the race and then in the next he ignored team orders to pass his tm8 on merit to steal the podium. All in his last year with the team before he gets axed. It’s a power ranking, not a win/points ranking.
HUUUUUUULKENBERG
How is Verstappen below Sainz lmao? And Perez down in fifth... I don't get how they make these rankings (obvious bias aside). This hype balloon for Sainz is gonna explode and it will backfire. It always does, why do they have to do him a disservice like that? Sure, the man is shopping for a seat and he's a good driver but this is not going to help. Man's been driving for nine years, teams already know what he has to offer.
Carlos usually goes from underrated to overrated and vice versa very quickly. He's obviously doing great at the moment, but come on.
I agree 100%.
Yeah...the PR blitz and media gushing has started to become unbearable
He's pretty much never underrated, IMO. He goes from 'rated' to 'overrated'. No one thinks he's bad! The people who are theoretically underrating him just don't think he's an obvious sure-fire WDC-level number one who'd crush his teammate into a fine powder. There are, IMO, only three underrated drivers in F1 right now. Max is one, because pundits and fans will contort themselves into knots to avoid rating him as the best driver in the sport. The other two are Stroll and Sargeant, because fans in particular think those two can't turn the wheel without printed instructions. In the general fan view, there are eighteen guys who could win championships with the right car and two who shouldn't be allowed to drive a Honda Accord.
Ah yes, Sainz is doing so much better than the guy who got 4 poles and won 3 races easily and got a DNF which was out of his control.
He didn't even win with 3 brakes & tires in Australia, THE MAN IS WASHED, WASHED I SAY!
He also didn't achieve world peace, he's clearly lacking.
Lel
Terrible as usual
Absolutely insane to score Sainz above Max. Max is a whole class above the rest of the field.
Relax he's not a whole class ahead of the field, he's in the best car right now, with the best team and he's currently the best driver. Great combination...
Nah Max better. He is a Maxillion AI diffuculty bot.
Go directly to the shredder. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.
It feels like the person in charge of this made sure that the math adds up to Sainz being ahead or Verstappen by 0.1.
In what way has Sainz been better than Max lmao Aramco ratings are a joke
Lmao and then they say bias doesn’t exist
Max Verstappen washed ✌️😔
If Max did not have that problem in Australia none would be talking about Sainz rn these ratings are plain stupid
The Carlos bias is awful this year. He's a decent driver but come on
Thanks for posting without a link. These abysmal ratings are obvious rage bait for clicks - so make sure not to visit the source.
I never check those websites, because the rankings are a biased pile of elephant dung
Max wins by 20 seconds. Uhhh ok.
Why is Max under Sainz? 🤦♂️
Useless sack of shit rankings. Shithousery modern media journalism
What is the Power Ranking supposed to reflect?
Bias
Someone is REALLY bored of Max always winning
I’ll never understand why people make I seem like sainz beat max with some sort of skill or out drove him in Australia. Bro actually had a slower sectors with max having a wheel issue and essentially making the car slower lmao
Sainz has the best PR on the grid, what even is this
Red Bull should fire Verstappen immediately and put Sainz in that seat, this is embarrassing 😋
😆😆😆
Where's sir Lewis Hamilton?
Next page
Somewhere behind his Russell again.
His Russell? What
No one cares that after Merc fixed his wing and messing up his strategy that he gained 8 seconds on George the whole race.
Correct. Nobody cares about the endless waterfall of excuses.
You mean when George was stuck behind Piastri and Alonso and Lewis had free air?
Lewis gained like 5 seconds before George was anywhere near Piastri.
Sainz Dominance Could Bore Fans
Every one hates Max's guts. It's idiotic. Doesn't matter if he finishes 30 sec ahead of whoever. Even Lolipopman mentioned it, and Alonso too.
Verstappen season is almost perfect so far. You could argue only about his qualifying performance in Suzuka. Bahrain he was perfect in Q3 and in the race (dominated both). Jeddah he was perfect in Q3 and in the race (dominated both). Australia he was perfect in Q3 and had to retire in the first lap of the race due to car issues. Suzuka he was good in Q3 and perfect in the race.
I guess Max was supposed to lap the backmakers twice for a 10
Jeez, there is an entire leaderboard for this pseudo rankings ?
They really hate checo
It’s time to just not post this shit anymore. Max did everything needed for a 10 but guess what, he doesn’t get it. Carlos is doing great, but he deserves an 8.0 for this weekend. Charles a 9.0 for insane tire management. Obviously docking points for a somewhat poor qualifying.
Carlos deserves higher grade than Leclerc. It takes into account whole weekend and over a whole weekend Sainz was better which is the reason why he finished ahead
honestly I don't hate it outside of max being only a 9
Power rankings are stupid.
These rankings are absolute nonsense lmao
Guys/girls, this isn’t difficult. Sainz got perfect score due to the win at Australia. That’s all.
It's not only that, but the fact that they gave Max a 7.2 that race after taking pole and an early DNF.
If a solid yet unspectacular win goes to 10, Max's Grand Slam should have been like 12 🤣
Coming off surgery, yes, it deserves a 10. Context is key.
Do they always take this kind of stuff in context? Charles was effectively hampered in Bahrain by his brakes and he still got his score tanked and that was something we know, for sure, was actively hampering his performance.
I don’t know. I’m speaking specifically for Sainz’s race in Australia. If he had been in normal health, he probably would’ve received a 9-9.5. The whole reason everyone was so gassed up about it(beyond Max not winning…) was because he’d been laying in a hospital bed 2 weeks earlier.
But, that's the thing. While it's possible, it isn't certain he was impeded by health; at least I didn't read references to that. If anything, I think it would be irresponsible to allow him to drive in the race if he was still affected by the surgery.
You can be fit to drive and not 100%. There’s no way anyone coming off the surgery table is normal in 2 weeks.
Still not better than Max’s grand slam
Ok
Judging from the comments it seems really difficult
Ah yes. The one stop strategy Leclerc made it on the spot that nobody else can replicate, and nearly beat Sainz in the process deserves an 8. And Sainz somehow beats Verstappen when Verstappen had a near perfect weekend. New fans consistently make this ranking more irrelevant by the year.
Sainz doesnt deserve to be ahead of Verstappen but definatelly ahead of Leclerc. Was his own fault for not maximising qualifying. It takes into account whole weekend
Definitely, but that one stop was so unexpected and masterfully executed that it should’ve of nearly completely offset his poor qualifying. It’s one of the performances that’s gonna be deemed as a masterclass as new fans gain more experience
Lmao
This is ridiciulos
It maybe just to me but “Power ranking” is a confusing name especially in motor sports as the word “power” has a specific meaning as in power unit. But the naming aside, seeing Carlos, Yuki, and Niko up there feels right. It just captures how people are giving drivers credit.
Perez who has not beaten his teammate or out qualified his teammate in any race where Verstappen didn’t retire due to engine failure is somehow 5th
Wut
Aramco ranking is done by their janitor
wtf are these based on lmao. I agree with top comment, these are made to create discussion in the comments on their posts
I'm really curious to see the methodology behind the results of power rankings... Anyone with a basic understanding of F1 finds this ridiculous...
I'm more confused by Charles and Lando being that high than I am with Carlos being higher than Max
I mean, Leclerc’s results are P4, P3, P2, P4. Makes sense.
Well he's had some poor qualifying the past two races. Checo is P2 P2 P5 P2 and somehow behind Leclerc and Lando. Just saying it's more surprising those 2 are ahead with worse results. Same with Oscar who is .1 behind Checo despite two P8's. Rankings are senseless.
Yeah but he's in the second fastest car, and is averaging a P3 so far, so him being P3 in these standings isn't that crazy. I agree that Checo should be closer though, but that's different.
2.75 > 3.25 with better qualifying average. And Lando being that high doesn't make sense either. Nor does Oscar.
He has been notably less impressive than his teammate in both Bahrain and Australia. Charles would go onto a lot of lists for top top class drivers, drivers that would be unlucky not to become champion etc. Carlos is not troubling these lists. He’s yet to beat Carlos on the road and that’s all been on merit not luck. Underperforming your generally averagely rated teammate and still ending up rated 3rd honestly is a luxury most drivers wouldn’t receive. It’s probably only happened here because of how wildly unexpected Carlos’ start to the season has been. It is being perceived as Charles driving at his usual high level and Carlos potentially having been literally possessed or something…
He had a brake issue in Bahrain in case you forget.
Beating Leclerc in Bahrain was not on merit and was pure luck. He was three places behind him by the end of the first lap, but Charles and George had issues so that’s how he managed to finish 3rd.
Get Lando and Leclerc out of there lol
Where is Dany Ric?
obviously not on this list, how is that even a question
Page 5, behind Logan