F1 News
Power Rankings after Baku: Verstappen no longer best driver of '23
- GPblog.com
Max Verstappen leads the world championship, winning two of the four Grands Prix and finishing second in the other two main races. Nevertheless, the English jurors, who give points to drivers after each race, do not currently see the reigning world champion as the driver who will perform best in 2023.
The five judges on the official Formula 1 website acknowledge that Verstappen's collision with George Russell in the sprint race and the unfortunate safety car during the Grand Prix caused some bad luck in Azerbaijan's capital. However, they rate the performance of Verstappen, who finished third in the sprint race with a lot of damage and second in the main race, with a 7.8.
Best performance by Hamilton in 2023
Lewis Hamilton received a higher rating for his performance in Baku than Verstappen (8.2), although he finished sixth with the Mercedes. The judges praised the way the seven-time champion overtook Nico Hulkenberg's Haas and Esteban Ocon's Alpine during the Grand Prix. According to the analysts, this was Hamilton's best performance this season.
According to the Formula 1 website, Sergio Perez was the best in Baku, earning a rating of 9.6. Behind him in the ratings was Charles Leclerc (9.4), who put his Ferrari on pole for both races and finished third in the Grand Prix.
Formula 1 compiles the averages after each Grand Prix, determining who is currently the best driver on the grid. Verstappen dropped to spot two on this list. Fernando Alonso currently has the highest average.
