After Race 3: Bahrain

Was there a better way for Formula 1 to celebrate its milestone 900^th grand prix? Having passionately watched over a third of all F1 races live (not bad considering I’m only 24, if I say so myself!), I can confidently say that I have never seen so many team-mates battling in a single race – ‘Noah’s Ark’ style races tend to be tedious but this was the extreme opposite. What the race in Sakhir also re-emphasized was the dominance of Mercedes. Nico Rosberg could easily have lapped the field in Melbourne if not for the safety car (and if Merc wanted to) and the way both cars pulled out a 24-second lead within the final dozen laps demonstrates that the team could be on course to complete the perfect season – going one better than McLaren’s 1988 efforts.

This could be a common sight this season
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas (Facebok)

1. Lewis Hamilton (no change)

Quite simply, this week’s F1 Power Rankings is a case of ‘winner-takes-all’. Hamilton edged his team-mate in a critical early season battle to take his 24^th career victory in thrilling style – matching the great Juan Manuel Fangio for =10^th on the all-time list. It would not be surprising if Hamilton became the most successful British driver this season in terms of race wins (Nigel Mansell has 31).

2. Nico Rosberg (no change)

Throughout the free practice sessions Rosberg edged closer to Hamilton and finally bettered him in qualifying at the third time of asking in 2014. Unfortunately, his good work unravelled in the first few hundred yards on Sunday as Lewis gained the early advantage and, despite seemingly having the edge at various stages through the race, could not reclaim the lead of the race. On the bright side, he retains his championship lead.

Supreme battling from the Merc team-mates - which set the tone for the rest of the field
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas (Facebook)

3. Daniil Kvyat (no change)

The Russian rookie hangs on to third spot in the rankings despite missing out on continuing the points-scoring start to his career by just eight seconds. It was a rather disappointing race for Toro Rosso but Kvyat once again outqualified JEV and brought his car home in one piece.

4. Nico Hülkenberg (no change)

It was touch-and-go whether The Hulk would move up to P3 in this week’s F1 Power Rankings but he just misses out due to his quali error – which ultimately cost him a podium. Despite missing out on Q3, Hülkenberg flew off the line and vaulted himself into podium contention but ultimately lost out to Sergio Pérez in the battle to claim Force India’s first podium of the season (and just second overall). Credit the job he did in holding up Daniel Ricciardo in the closing stages, which assisted his team-mate in securing some fizzy rosewater celebrations in the desert night (no champagne on the Middle East podiums).

The Hulk's wait for a maiden podium continues
Source: Sahara Force India (Facebook)

5. Daniel Ricciardo (up two spots)

Ricciardo continued his fine start to the season and finally picked up his first (legal) points for Red Bull, overcoming his ten-place grid penalty. He managed to both out-qualify and out-race his quadruple world champion team-mate and would arguably have made the podium if the race was just one lap longer.

Two Red Bulls in the Ark
Source: Red Bull Racing (Facebook)

6. Valtteri Bottas (up two spots)

Having been scuppered by inclement weather during the first two qualifying sessions of the season, Williams were finally able to show off their car’s outright pace over one lap and it was Bottas who sealed a spot on row two. However, in a reverse scenario to the opening two races, Williams found themselves gradually falling back through the field as they struggled with tyre degradation.

7. Jenson Button (up three spots)

A disappointing end to what was proving to be a quietly solid weekend for JB. He raced comfortably in the points all day long – the only ‘lonely animal’ in the Noah’s Ark top ten – before his clutch troubles shortly after the safety car. More importantly for Jenson, he finally seemed to fully assert his authority over his young team-mate in both quali and the race.

8. Sebastian Vettel (down three spots)

It’s difficult to know what to make of Vettel’s weekend; his car had some technical problems in both quali and the race but he still managed to finish in a solid 6^th position. Mark Webber only managed to outqualify Seb twice last season and Ricciardo has already done that in three races. Such was the frantic racing in the ‘second group’ throughout the race, it’s difficult to know who the SC really helped or hindered but it was heartening for Vettel that he was able to fend off the Williams in the closing stages.

9. Sergio Pérez (up thirteen spots)

With possibly the biggest gain ever seen in F1 Power Rankings – one that even Lazarus would have approved – Checo Pérez finally announced himself in the 2014 season after being AWOL thus far. He converted an impressive FP3 performance into a solid top five quali effort (fourth after the Ricciardo pen) and backed it up with a solid podium drive on Sunday, fending off his team-mate and Ricciardo to take ‘best-of-the-rest’ honours. In my opinion, this was Force India’s best ever race.

It was great to see Checo return to the podium
Source: Sahara Force India (Facebook)

10. Fernando Alonso (down four spots)

Oh dear. It was nothing short of a disastrous weekend for the Scuderia – worsened by the presence of Luca di Montezemolo, and the chairman’s expressions were crystal clear for all to see during the race. Ferrari suffered massively on Bahrain’s long straights (can you imagine what they’ll be like at Monza in front of the Tifosi?!) as Alonso praised the work of Mercedes. Stefano Domenicali is one of the more likeable figures in the paddock but the team principal will surely be feeling the heat from Italy. 

Di Montezemolo was distinctly underwhelmed by what he watched
Source: F1Fanatic

11. Kevin Magnussen (down two spots)

While it’s surely not a sign of things to come, Magnussen’s first three races in F1 have produced gradually worsening results. A brilliant Melbourne was followed up by a rookie error in Sepang and he committed a near identical error (against the same driver) in Sakhir. This time, however, he struggled to maintain relevance and drifted into an anonymous midfield spot before his early exit. On the bright side, he kept up his 100% Q3 record.

12. Felipe Massa (up two spots)

As mentioned earlier, Williams experienced a reversal of the fortunes from the opening two races which cost them a shot at their first podium of the season. The lengthy SC probably didn’t play into their hands either but – like Force India – the order of their two drivers was almost dictated by strategy and undercutting, with both drivers from both teams getting an opportunity to be the ‘lead car’ at some point during the race. It was Massa who prevailed in the Williams battle (aided by a phenomenal start that saw him nullify Bottas’ quali advantage). Admittedly, the gap between the team-mates in the F1 Power Rankings is a tad harsh but we expect more from Massa – just as we do from Button against Magnussen.

=13. Romain Grosjean (down two spots) & Kimi Räikkönen (up two spots)

The former team-mates find themselves locked at no.13 this week after both experienced rather mixed weekends. Grosjean again made it into Q2 – edging out Pastor Maldonado by 0.009secs – and again ran rather competitively in the midfield (finishing less than two seconds behind Kvyat). However, he was involved in an opening lap incident with Jean-Éric Vergne, something that went largely unseen by cameras and thus I cannot necessarily place blame on either driver. Räikkönen managed to qualify four spots above Alonso but all his good work was nullified by the time the Ferraris reached Turn 1 and that was that.

Räikkönen has yet to get the better of Alonso on Sunday
Source: F1Fanatic

15. Jean-Éric Vergne (down four spots)

And speaking of the Grosjean/Vergne incident, here is JEV – sliding down to P15 in the rankings as he was outqualified by his teenage team-mate before his first-lap collision scuppered his Sunday chances. Again, despite Vergne’s radio protestations that “the Lotus guy tried to kill me” – it is difficult to fully assign blame without viewing the incident.

=16. Kamui Kobayashi (down three spots) & Max Chilton (up one spot)

KK was brought in to help Caterham beat Marussia in the standings and he certainly did that on Saturday evening. However, despite flirting with some of the more established midfield runners during the race, he surprisingly found himself having to save fuel after the safety car which ultimately allowed Max Chilton to steal 13^th position and vault Marussia back ahead of the arch-rivals.

18. Esteban Gutiérrez (up one spot)

Stevie G managed to make the front page of British newspapers on Monday. Unfortunately, it was due to his spectacular roll as he was flipped by a hapless Maldonado. Gutiérrez did make it into Q2 but that was the highlight of a dreadful weekend for Sauber.

Source: Getty Images

19. Jules Bianchi (up one spot)

So often in a ‘class-of-one’ last year in the backmarker battle last season, Bianchi’s tough start to 2014 continued as Adrian Sutil inexplicably shut the door on him as the Frenchman tried to overtake. Incredibly, the stewards deemed Bianchi at fault and, to make matters worse, gave him two penalty points (to go with the harsh two points from Sepang).

Bianchi was extremely unlucky to be penalized for this collision
Source: XPB (Auto Motor und Sport)

20. Marcus Ericsson (up one spot)

Such was the hectic action at the sharp end of the grid, we didn’t get to see much of the Caterham/Marussia battle. The two teams seemed fairly well matched on the Sakhir circuit but, unfortunately for the Swedish rookie, he was the odd-man-out as he failed to see the chequered flag. A clean weekend in a difficult situation, it’s the best he can hope for at present.

21. Adrian Sutil (down three spots) & 22. Pastor Maldonado (down six spots)

Halfway through the race, Sutil seemed nailed-on to be rock-bottom of this week’s F1 Power Rankings; he put a mystifying, outrageous block on Grosjean during qualifying (whilst exiting in Q1) before his aforementioned collision with Bianchi in the race. Then came Maldonado… Words can’t describe how poor this incident was. The Venezuelan has faced a lot of criticism for his place in F1 but I have largely backed him – his race victory a case point of his talents, and he had several strong runs in 2012. This incident was inexcusable, what exactly was he aiming to accomplish as he drove towards the first corner upon exiting the pits? For both drivers, it’s hugely surprising they don’t leave here with at least six penalty points, if not more.

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