POWER RANKINGS: Who took the spoils after the sensational 2022 British Grand Prix?

Carlos Sainz took his first ever Formula 1 victory in the 2022 British Grand Prix – but he didn't garner the highest Power Rankings score from the judges. Have a look below to see who topped the Power Rankings after a stunning bout at Silverstone.

How it works

Our five-judge panel assess each driver after every Grand Prix and score them out of 10 according to their performance across the weekend – taking machinery out of the equation
Our experts’ scores are then averaged out to produce a race score – with those scores then tallied up across the season on our overall Power Rankings Leaderboard (at the bottom of the page)

Hamilton was somewhat dejected after qualifying fifth at home – his worst Silverstone qualifying performance since 2014 – but what followed was the sort of performance we've come to expect from the seven-time champion. His pace on medium tyres was at times better than that of the Ferraris and, when it came to the Safety Car restart, the home hero put on a show as he went wheel-to-wheel against Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc to take the final podium place.

Maiden pole, maiden win – but not a perfect score for Sainz. The Spaniard looked to be out of the picture when asked to swap places with team mate Leclerc, a rapid Hamilton bearing down on newer tyres – but the Safety Car proved Sainz's saving grace and saw him shoot to the front on new soft compounds. After missing out in Canada, the Ferrari driver made it count in Great Britain and still garnered a lofty score from the judges.

Another first this weekend as Schumacher took his maiden F1 points in P8. Starting 19th, the German driver made up 11 positions on race day. A swashbuckling performance from the Haas driver saw him take on a struggling Verstappen in the final moments of the race, Schumacher demonstrating what he's capable of on his day.

Leclerc's spin took him out of the running for pole position on Saturday and perhaps cost others, including Verstappen, a chance too. But the Monegasque was thrust into the lead on Sunday as the team swapped him and Sainz. Unfortunately for Leclerc, he couldn't swap for soft tyres for the final restart and ended up fourth – though he did give it his all against Hamilton and Perez...

With so much going on at Silverstone, it's perhaps easy to overlook Alonso's P5, another in a line of strong Sundays the Spaniard has enjoyed in recent months. Alonso qualified seventh in the Alpine and hoped to sneak a podium at the end, his complaints that the car ahead – Leclerc – had weaved on the straights doing nothing to help him move up the order. Still, another midfield-topping performance from Alpine and another show of strength from Alonso.

There is no doubt that Verstappen was dealt a bad hand on Sunday, the Dutchman picking up a piece of carbon fibre and losing a considerable amount of performance as a result. Having qualified second, missing out on pole as he slowed for Leclerc's spin, Verstappen seemed to have the best of the Ferraris until damage dropped him down the order. P7, after a brilliant battle with Schumacher, was a solid damage limitation exercise.

Perez couldn’t match the theatrics – or pace – of team mate Verstappen in the wet qualifying, while contact at the restart following the red flag looked to have put paid to his Sunday afternoon, as he fell to the back of the field. But flying under the radar, the Mexican managed to climb all the way up to P4 by the time the Safety Car pulled in at the end of Lap 42, going on to put in a fantastic, aggressive display to win out against Leclerc and Hamilton and bag an unlikely second place.

Another driver that, on another day, would have received more airtime, Norris did a brilliant job to take P6 for McLaren. Qualifying sixth, Norris finished there and enjoyed decent pace. He rued the fact that he couldn't quite catch Alonso at the end, but the Briton did an admirable job and duly impressed our judges.

Consecutive Q3 appearances put Zhou in the hunt for the points, the Alfa Romeo driver having impressed on Saturday. But his race was cut short right at the start in a terrifying high-speed crash that sent him hurtling into the barriers past the Turn 1 gravel.

Latifi was another driver to impress in Q3, out-qualifying not just team mate Albon but taking his Williams – without upgrades, mind – all the way up to 10th on the grid and Q3 too. The Canadian wasn't sure he could hang on to the top 10 but he really did give it everything and still took a solid 12th at the flag.