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POWER RANKINGS: Two drivers share top spot as the judges scores are in from Monaco
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Max Verstappen took a dominant victory this weekend in Monaco, and the championship leader is one of two drivers at the top of this week's leaderboard – but who else joins him in the top-10? Here are the scores from Monte Carlo.
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)
Verstappen has done a lot of incredible things in his career so far, but that final sector on his pole lap was a thing of beauty. It was another win for the Dutch driver, as he mastered his way through the changing conditions in the race, and in truth he rarely ever looked troubled.
But that final sector where he pushed the boundaries of the track, and the car, even hitting the barriers on that narrow circuit a couple of times, is what most will remember from this weekend, and rightly so.
Verstappen was not the only driver to squeeze every ounce of performance out of their car in qualifying because for a moment Esteban Ocon had the world convinced that he was about to take pole. He still ended up in a brilliant fourth, starting the race in third thanks to Charles Leclerc’s penalty.
But his race was masterful, making it difficult for his rivals to even think about overtaking him. He kept Carlos Sainz, and then Lewis Hamilton, at bay during the race to take his first podium since his win at Hungary in 2021.
READ MORE: Delighted Ocon ‘on a cloud’ as Alpine claim first podium since 2021 in Monaco
We are running out of superlatives to praise Alonso’s performances this season, as yet another weekend goes by where the Spaniard makes it onto the podium, but this time in a season-high second place.
He and Aston Martin did their best to keep Verstappen and Red Bull on their toes, especially starting on the hard tyre, while the Dutch driver was on the mediums, but it did not work out. However, there was no disappointment from the team, as they believed that second was the best Alonso could do on the Sunday.
Hamilton had looked on the pace all weekend before ending up in the barrier at Mirabeau, in FP3, and struggling to get out of both Q1 and Q2. But when it mattered most, Hamilton delivered, as he also benefited from Leclerc's penalty to start fifth.
He took the aggressive route by starting on the medium tyre, as he capitalised on Ferrari not pitting for the intermediates. He also took advantage of his team mate George Russell spinning off-track, to gain two places, before pushing Ocon all the way for a place on the podium, although he was more than happy to settle for P4.
TECH TUESDAY: The intriguing design details behind Mercedes’ major W14 upgrade in Monaco
Norris and McLaren will head to Barcelona in jovial spirits after another somewhat successful weekend in Monaco. The Briton did not have it all his own way on Saturday, hitting the barrier in Q2, before being blocked by Leclerc in Q3.
But his performance on Sunday was sensational, especially when the rain came down, as at one stage he was lapping three seconds quicker than any other driver on track. It may have only been ninth for Norris, but it was an incredibly impressive ninth place.
While Norris hit the ground running immediately in Monaco, Piastri slowly built up his pace through the weekend. He mentioned that he felt “off the pace” on Friday, but when qualifying came around, the Australian was on it, narrowly missing out on Q3.
That may sound disappointing, but at one stage in the weekend it looked like he would struggle to make it out of Q1. Then on Sunday he pulled off some impressive overtakes on the AlphaTauris of Nyck de Vries and Yuki Tsunoda to finish in a well-earned P10.
READ MORE: 5 Winners and 5 Losers from the Monaco GP – Who mastered the streets of Monte Carlo?
His team mate, Ocon, stole the headlines this weekend, but Gasly’s seventh-place performance should still be commended, although listening to his interviews following the race, he felt it should have been better.
However, qualifying and finishing seventh – splitting the Mercedes on Saturday and finishing between the Ferraris on Sunday – is something to be proud of, especially when you consider how tight it is in the midfield. So, it was still a noteworthy performance from the French driver.
READ MORE: Gasly ‘disappointed and confused’ after missing out on podium chance in Monaco
When it comes to consistency in performance, not many have been able to match Tsunoda this season, although he would have been gutted to miss out on points this weekend after performing brilliantly for much of it.
Running in a comfortable ninth for much of the race, after an outstanding qualifying, he lost majorly when the rain came tumbling down, as a brake issue saw him run off track and tumble down the order. So, not the result he would have wanted but it was certainly another confident showing from Tsunoda.
The Mercedes man says he was left “kicking” himself despite finishing fifth, as he made a mistake while running in third that saw him lose out on the chance of a podium. However, it was largely still a very good drive from Russell.
He was one of the few drivers who trusted the radar and went long in the first stint on the hard tyre, benefitting from the rain. Ultimately, his strategy worked, but he will be ruing the mistake that cost him a first podium finish of the season.
When he made it on to provisional pole on Saturday, it all looked like it was going swimmingly well for Leclerc, and even though he ended up third, it was not the worst place to start on the grid. However, his weekend started to go from bad to worse when he was given a three-place grid drop for impeding Norris.
And unfortunately for Leclerc, that meant he started and ended the race in sixth, and speaking to the media afterwards he was very downbeat about the weekend. However, while the result may not show this, it was still a solid shift from Leclerc.
READ MORE: ‘We’re just too far away’ says downbeat Leclerc after P6 finish in home race
Missing out
Nyck de Vries narrowly misses out on a place in the top-10 for the first time after finishing in 12th place – a season-high for the Dutch driver. It has not been the easiest of starts to the season for the AlphaTauri racer, but he will hope that this outing could be the catalyst he needs to improve his results going forward.
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