FAN POWER RANKINGS: Who’s your top driver of 2019 at the halfway mark?

After every Grand Prix, we ask a five-judge panel of experts to rank the performances of the 20 drivers to create a top 10 based on their averaged-out, season-long performance. But at the midway mark of 2019, we wanted to know which drivers had impressed you, the F1 fans. So we asked you to rank the performances of the drivers up and down the grid from zero to 10, to give us a fan-voted ranking. Here’s who made your top 10…

F1 Power Rankings position post-Hungarian GP: 1st

Since the second race of the year in Bahrain, Max Verstappen has been first or joint first in our F1 Power Rankings – and you, the fans, were clearly in no mood to differ with our panel, awarding Red Bull’s two-time race winner in 2019 the top spot in the fan-powered rankings… and by a fair old margin at that.

READ MORE: Ranking Max Verstappen's seven career victories so far

F1 Power Rankings position post-Hungarian GP: 2nd

It’s been Lewis Hamilton’s most successful first-half of an F1 season in his career to date, with the five-time champion having won eight of the 12 races so far. But there have been chinks in Hamilton’s armour, most notably his excruciating race in Germany that saw him finish just ahead of Robert Kubica’s Williams – and it’s those performances that have kept the nonetheless formidable Hamilton off top spot in the face of a ruthlessly consistent Verstappen.

F1 Power Rankings position post-Hungarian GP: 3rd

What a revelation Carlos Sainz has been this season. After enduring a dismal start to 2019 with three non-scores in three races, Sainz has been one of the stand-out performers ever since, exploiting McLaren’s re-found mojo to put himself ‘best of the rest’ at the summer break, just five points off Red Bull’s outgoing Pierre Gasly. He duly earns the nod for third from you.

READ MORE: Behind the scenes with Carlos Sainz – Heat chambers, speeches and a burger contest

F1 Power Rankings position post-Hungarian GP: 8th

Oh, there’s plenty of racing life in the Kimster yet. Barring Alfa Romeo’s dip in form midway through the first half of the year, Raikkonen has been in fine fettle, the joint-most consistent midfield scorer along with Sainz, as he claims fourth place in the rankings, four up on his current F1 Power Rankings spot.

F1 POWER RANKINGS: Who made the top 10 in Hungary ahead of the summer break?

F1 Power Rankings position post-Hungarian GP: 4th

Speaking of McLaren’s mojo, the driver of the other MCL34 hasn’t been too bad either. F1 fans have been loving Lando Norris’s disarming approach to social media in 2019, and the British rookie has been backing that up with some fine on-track performances, chief among those being his fantastic brace of sixth-places in Bahrain and Austria, as well as some astounding qualifying performances.

WATCH: Lando Norris takes on Carlos Sainz in Grill The Grid

F1 Power Rankings position post-Hungarian GP: 5th

Charles Leclerc hasn’t had things all his own way so far during his first year with Ferrari. But when he’s been good, he’s been damned good – think Bahrain, think that overtake on Pierre Gasly at Silverstone, think his no holds barred battle with Verstappen in Austria. It’s been enough for him to snag sixth place in the standings and – nota bene, Scuderia fans – the sole spot for a Ferrari driver in the fan-voted top 10.

F1 Power Rankings position post-Hungarian GP: 6th=

Things are going pretty swimmingly for Alex Albon in his first year in F1, the Thai driver impressing with his performances – so much so, in fact, that he’s earned a call-up to the senior Red Bull team in place of Gasly for the rest of the season. You’ve clearly been impressed too, awarding the 23-year-old P7 in the fan-kings…

F1 Power Rankings position post-Hungarian GP: 10th

Even his old sparring partner Sebastian Vettel looked pleased to see Daniil Kvyat back on an F1 podium in Hockenheim, such has been the Russian’s emotional rollercoaster over the past few years. But overall, Kyvat’s been in excellent shape so far this season, taking a point on his Toro Rosso return, then 11 more before scoring that magnificent podium in Germany, less than 24 hours after the birth of his daughter. A heart-warming story that his helped Kvyat to eighth place in the rankings.

F1 Power Rankings position post-Hungarian GP: 6th=

There’s no doubt the ‘Bottas 2.0’ effect has cooled slightly as the season has progressed. But the Finn clearly banked enough impressive performances early doors to win over a lot of you, taking victory in the season-opener in Australia (“To whom it may concern…” etc.) and following it up with a win in Baku, while he remains the joint-pole position king so far this year, tied on four with team mate Hamilton.

F1 Power Rankings position post-Hungarian GP: 9th

Marking a clean sweep of rookie appearances in the fan-voted top 10, George Russell has been quietly putting in some superb performances in 2019 and would surely, armed with, say, the McLaren or Toro Rosso of his rookie peers, have a decent haul of points on the board. As it is, he’s doing the best he can in the currently off-the-pace Williams, having out-qualified team mate Robert Kubica at every Grand Prix so far this year, and out-raced him 10 times to two.

READ MORE: Pat Symonds hails George Russell as world champion material