After Race 4: Bahrain

Four races in and, for the first time, we have a driver retain his place atop the F1 Power Rankings. We also have a new face propping up the Rankings as the opening quartet of flyaway races comes to a close.

Alonso managed to score points despite his malfunctioning DRS
Source: Sutton Images

1. Fernando Alonso (last week: 1^st, no change) (Season high: 1^st, low: 13^th)

Sebastian Vettel was absolutely dominant on Sunday afternoon in Sakhir. No-one came remotely close to him once he took the lead of the race. However, the things Fernando Alonso did with his Ferrari were even more astonishing. Firstly, his DRS jammed in the open position, meaning he had to negotiate the long, fast, sweeping turns in the second half of the track with significantly less downforce and with no advance warning of the problem. Having made an extra pit-stop to try and correct the problem, he spent the majority of the 57 lap race without the aid of DRS on a circuit which is highly conducive to the system. How he was then able to drive through the field and recover to an eighth place finish was just incredible, and it was almost even higher! It was an opportunity missed for Ferrari this weekend, but a heroic recovery.

2. Sebastian Vettel (last week: 4^th, up two spots) (Season high: 2^nd, low: 4^th)

As mentioned above, Vettel was superb. His overtake on Alonso on the opening lap was the highlight of a perfect race. Once he negotiated his way past Nico Rosberg, he methodically pulled away from the field and even ran the more cautious three-stop strategy despite his tyres being in a good condition – such was his pace. A 2011-esque performance.

3. Kimi Räikkönen (last week: 2^nd, down one spot) (Season high: 2^nd, low: 12^th)

His rather anonymous Malaysian race aside, Kimi Räikkönen has enjoyed an excellent start to the season. His incredible run of race finishes just keeps on going, now standing at 32, and China last year remains the only race he has failed to score since his comeback; such a run will invariably see him remain in contention. The only blot on the Lotus copybook was their qualifying performance, which saw them lose time in the first third of the race.

2012 or 2013? Same podium!
Source: Straits Times

4. Lewis Hamilton (last week: 3^rd, down one spot) (Season high: 3^rd, low: 6^th)

At some point near the halfway point of the race, Lewis Hamilton was languishing down in 15^th position. He was being comfortably outperformed by team-mate and pole-sitter Nico Rosberg and struggling for pace. Suddenly, as if a light was switched on, Hamilton found himself rocketing through the field, capping off a brilliant second half of the race with a last lap overtake on Mark Webber for 5^th place. For all his tyre woes through the weekend, he was able to run a three-stop strategy and swing the Mercedes pendulum back into his favour after his Saturday problems. A thoroughly impressive drive.

5. Paul di Resta (last week: 7^th, up two spots) (Season high: 5^th, low: 17^th)

It says it all about Paul di Resta’s weekend that, despite equalling his career-best finish of 4^th, the team were more disappointed about missing out on the podium. Force India had a very quick car all weekend, shown by locking out row three on the grid (after penalties) and then with di Resta leading during the early stages. Whether or not the two-stop strategy was the right option will be examined closely by the team as they try to acclimatize to battling higher up the field but they were powerless to defend against Romain Grosjean and his fresher tyres. Nonetheless, a fantastic result for Paul, who continues to put Adrian Sutil in the shade since Melbourne.

6. Romain Grosjean (last week: =12^th, up six spots) (Season high: 6^th, low: 12^th)

Grosjean’s steady and unspectacular start to the season finally came to an end with a fine drive to complete the replica of the 2012 Bahrain podium. After narrowly missing out on Q3, Grosjean used his fresh rubber to good effect in the race. He is still lacking in a little aggression after all his first-lap incidents last year but it was good to see him back on the podium.

7. Charles Pic (last week: 11^th, up four spots) (Season high: 7^th, low: 19^th)

Caterham brought along some upgrades to Bahrain and welcome in the F1 Power Ranking top 10, Charles Pic! Not only did he comfortably win the Caterham-Marussia battle but he also finished ahead of Esteban Gutierrez and fairly close behind Daniel Ricciardo. Heikki Kovalainen was drafted in to help along the development of the 2013 car on Friday but Pic has nothing to worry about in terms of his seat. A superb performance on par with those of Alonso and Vettel sees him rise above arch-rival Jules Bianchi in these rankings.

Pic enjoyed his best race of the season in the upgraded Caterham
Source: Sutton Images

8. Sergio Pérez (last week: 17^th, up nine spots) (Season high: 8^th, low: 17^th)

After a steady fall to a season-low 17^th place in last week’s rankings, Sergio Pérez finally came of age as a McLaren driver on Sunday in Sakhir. Had he narrowly beat Jenson Button, the Englishman would’ve retained his place above the young Mexican but it was the way in which Checo beat JB that was the biggest surprise.  With the Carlos Slim family in attendance (that’s the world’s richest man and his family, backers of Pérez & Gutierrez), Pérez went on an all-out attack against his team-mate and aggressively overtook him with some fantastic wheel-to-wheel battling. However, if beating him on pure speed was not enough, Pérez also managed to out-strategize Button as he made a stop less. It was an ultimately emphatic victory on raceday and he will hope that he has finally turned the corner as we head to Europe.

Pérez edged Button in a fierce McLaren battle
Source: Telegraph

9. Nico Rosberg (last week: =12^th, up three spots) (Season high: 2^nd, low: 12^th)

Rosberg rises up to 9^th in this week’s Power Rankings but it could have been so much higher. After nailing Mercedes’ second pole in a row (the first time that has happened since Moss and Fangio in 1955!), it all fell apart for Nico in the race. In a similar way to Hamilton in Shanghai, no-one really expected the pole-sitter to challenge for the victory, but the way in which Rosberg fell down the order was most disappointing, especially given how Hamilton went the opposite way. If not for the pole position Rosberg would have been even lower – not what he needs in this ultra-competitive intra-team rivalry.

10. Jenson Button (last week: 6^th, down four spots) (Season high: 5^th, low: 12^th)

All things considered, a rather disappointing weekend for JB. After being quite happy with making Q3 on Saturday, McLaren found themselves running much higher up in the race than they anticipated. Unfortunately for Button, he could not take advantage of the situation and was firmly put in the shade by Pérez. He will hope this race was a one-off and look to get back on top of his team-mate in Barcelona.

11. Felipe Massa (last week: 10^th, down one spot) (Season high: 3^rd, low: 11^th)

I had initially pegged Massa in 12^th but moved him ahead of Webber after taking into account the latter’s over-aggressive defending against Nico Rosberg. Massa has found himself steadily falling down the rankings each race, and this Bahrain race was a microcosm of his season. He started strongly on the harder compound tyre, despite damaging his front wing. However, a surprisingly early first stop and then two punctures saw him plummet down the field. Fair to say none of this was his fault but Massa can’t catch a break at the moment – all his good work in qualifying sessions isn’t getting him as many points as he would like in the race.

12. Jules Bianchi (last week: 8^th, down four spots) (Season high: 6^th, low: 12^th)

Like Massa, Bianchi also slips out of the top ten for the first time season after his most difficult weekend in F1 so far. The Caterham upgrades relegated Bianchi to being runner-up in the backmarker battle but he again kept his nose clean and comfortably beat Max Chilton.

13. Mark Webber (last week: 15^th, up two spots) (Season high: 1^st, low: 15^th)

Webber actually rises two spots, such was his lowly ranking after his disastrous Shanghai weekend. I had initially penned him in 11^th but shuffled him back after taking into account his contact with Rosberg. His pace in the second quarter of the race was very good but he faded in the second half of the race, falling out of podium contention before a dreadful final lap saw him lose two places. He has not recovered from the Sepang controversy.

14. Daniel Ricciardo (last week: 5^th, down nine spots) (Season high: 5^th, low: 18^th)

One week on from his Chinese heroics, Ricciardo was brought back down to earth as Toro Rosso struggled for pace. Despite finishing one lap down, he retains a place ahead of some of his fellow midfield rivals based on last week’s outstanding drive – something which none of those drivers have achieved in 2013 so far. He again got the better of Jean-Eric Vergne this weekend (although the race battle was a non-event given JEV’s damage), so he can take some comfort from that.

15. Nico Hülkenberg (last week: 15^th, down six spots) (Season high:9^th, low: 15^th)

I think the best way to describe Nico Hülkenberg’s weekend would be ‘dreary’. A hugely underwhelming performance from Sauber this weekend and The Hulk was miles off the pace by the end of the race, even beaten by the previously hapless Pastor Maldonado. He again tried the inverse strategy but his fall down the field was even more exaggerated than last week and he must have been wandering what might have been as he saw Force India flourish up front.

16. Valtteri Bottas (last week: 16^th, no change) (Season high: 11^th, low: 16^th)

The young Finn has been ranked 16^th in three of the four editions of F1 Power Rankings. In a similar way to Hülkenberg, Valtteri Bottas must be devastated that the 2013 model of his car has been markedly slower than last year’s. Bottas was comfortably beaten by Maldonado but stays ahead of him based on overall performance levels this season (especially given his rookie status).

17. Pastor Maldonado (last week: 22^nd, up five spots) (Season high: 17^th, low: 22^nd)

Maldonado finally moves off the bottom of the rankings after propping them up for the opening three editions. Credit where it’s due, Maldonado put in a very solid drive to miss out on a world championship point by just one place. Williams will be hoping their Barcelona upgrades will propel them into the points, while Maldonado will be looking to maintain this much better level of personal performance.

18. Max Chilton (last week: 19^th, up one spot) (Season high: 18^th, low: 21^st)

Chilton moves up to the dizzying heights of 18^th after another clean race from the rookie. Again outpaced by Bianchi throughout the weekend, the young Brit did manage to narrow the performance differential between the two rookies.

19. Jean-Eric Vergne (last week: 14^th, down five spots) (Season high: 7^th, low: 19^th)

Perhaps 19^th is a tad harsh for Vergne, who simply got caught out in an opening lap incident that left him with terminal damage leaving Bahrain 2013 as a bit of a non-event. STR didn’t have much pace this weekend so Vergne can be thankful that he didn’t miss out on too much but Ricciardo has turned the tables from the first two races and edged ahead in the battle.

20. Adrian Sutil (last week: 18^th, down two spots) (Season high: 5^th, low: 20^th)

Like JEV, Sutil has plummeted since Melbourne. Third from bottom might also seem harsh for the German but he lost a great chance of a podium on the opening lap by getting caught up with Massa on the opening lap in a racing incident. His raw pace was good throughout the race but the damage was done. Outpaced by di Resta in qualifying, he will be devastated that he has only been able to muster one points-finish in the opening flyaway races.

21. Giedo van der Garde (last week: 20^th, down one spot) (Season high: 20^th, low: 21^st)

In an identical case to his fellow F1 Power Ranking strugglers, Giedo van der Garde found himself caught up in an opening lap clash that through no fault of his own. Having said that, VDG was always going to be up against it as he did not have all the upgrades that his team-mate had. He’ll be looking to rejoin the Caterham-Marussia battle as the European season commences.

22. Esteban Gutierrez (last week: 21^st, down one spot) (Season high: 15^th, low: 22^nd)

Like Williams, Sauber have found the going in 2013 much more difficult than last season. Gutierrez slips to the foot of the table on the back of two poor weekends with basic errors. These things can happen with rookies trying to outperform their machinery and he just needs to calm down.

After Race 3: China

The F1 circus resumed after a three week hiatus with a hugely entertaining race in Shanghai with drivers bouncing up and down the F1 Power Rankings. Let's dive right in!

All smiles! (Makes a difference from the frowny Malaysian top trio... and Kimi did smile at one point!)
Source: AP

1. Fernando Alonso (last week: 13^th, up twelve spots) (Season high: 1^st, low: 13^th)

It was simply the perfect race from Fernando Alonso as he emphatically bounced back from his early exit in Malaysia. Having been outqualified by Felipe Massa at the last four races, Alonso edged out his team-mate in qualifying before executing a flawless race. There is simply nothing else to say! Note: this was Alonso’s 31^st career victory, which moves him up to =4^th all-time.

A passionate celebration from Alonso
Source: Getty Images

2. Kimi Räikkönen (last week: 11^th, up ten spots) (Season high: 1^st, low: 11^th)

Just like Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen has found himself regaining all the ground he lost in the Power Rankings last time out in Malaysia. The Finn recovered well from a sluggish getaway and some mid-race contact with Sergio Pérez, which left him with significant front wing damage, to edge out Lewis Hamilton through the final round of pit stops for the runner-up spot. All things considered, an excellent result.

3. Lewis Hamilton (last week: 3^rd, no change) (Season high: 3^rd, low: 6^th)

A hugely important race for Lewis Hamilton. Firstly, he roared to Mercedes’ first pole of the season – at a venue which Nico Rosberg dominated last year, before also comfortably beating him in the race. Yes, Rosberg retired before half-distance but Hamilton was already a fair distance up the road from his team-mate. There is already a notable gap between the two drivers and Hamilton could not have dreamed for a better start to his Mercedes career (well, other than winning the three races) when he signed for them in September last year.

4. Sebastian Vettel (last week: 4^th, no change) (Season high: 4^th, low 4^th)

Three races in and Sebastian Vettel has found himself ranked 4^th in all of them. Opting for the counter-strategy, Vettel found himself starting in the midfield and having to keep his nose clean in the opening stages. An important pit-stop battle win over Nico Hülkenberg released him and he eventually finished just fractions off the podium after an impressive and spirited charge on the soft tyres in the final handful of laps. It has been a difficult three weeks for Vettel after the Sepang controversy and it will no doubt have pleased him to see Mark Webber encounter a miserable weekend.

5. Daniel Ricciardo (last week: =17^th, up twelve spots) (Season high: 5^th, low: 18^th)

This was Daniel Ricciardo’s best weekend in F1. Having qualified sixth in Bahrain last year, an awful start saw his good Saturday efforts evaporate. The Aussie made sure not to let lightning strike twice as he comfortably held his own in the top ten in the early stages before methodically making his way through the field in the second half of the race as all the various strategies played themselves out. In fact, was in not for having to change his nosecone at an earlier-than-planned first stop after contact with Rosberg, he might have even finished ahead of Jenson Button and Massa. Nonetheless, a career-best result comes at a critical time, as it appeared that Jean-Eric Vergne was beginning to firmly assert himself as the top dog in the STR stable.

6. Jenson Button (last week: 5^th, down one spot) (Season high: 5^th, low 12^th)

JB falls one spot mainly due to Ricciardo’s outstanding weekend as opposed to any drop in his own performance level. A very controlled drive saw Button manage to make one stop less than all his rivals (only team-mate Sergio Pérez made the same two-stop strategy) by conserving his tyres. While he did lack pace in the middle stages of the race, a solid 5^th place finish is an excellent result given the current capabilities of the McLaren.

7. Paul di Resta (last week: =17^th, up ten spots) (Season high: 7^th, low: 17^th)

Paul di Resta bounces back into the top ten after his Malaysian disappointment. He overcame an opening lap clash with his team-mate, which saw him lose several places, to score some solid points in eighth. After being firmly put in the shade by his team-mate in Melbourne, di Resta has bounced back well and is putting in the reliable drives he needs to turn heads at the larger teams. He still just needs a little more luck in races.

8. Jules Bianchi (last week: 6^th, down two spots) (Season high: 6^th, low: 10^th)

Our young French hero retains his place firmly in the Power Ranking top ten. Jules Bianchi was once again the top dog in the Marussia-Caterham battle in both qualifying and the race, although Charles Pic was significantly closer to him. The pair of them were, in turn, a lot closer to the Williams cars in race conditions.

9. Nico Hülkenberg (last week: 10^th, up one spot) (Season high: 9^th, low: 15^th)

It was great to see The Hulk leading the race early on as he managed to overtake fellow medium-compound-tyre starters Vettel and Button in the opening stint. After losing in a straight pit-stop battle to Red Bull, he fell behind Vettel and ran second until Sauber gambled on using the soft tyre mid-race which saw him plummet to the bottom of the top ten by the end of the race. I was going to place Hülkenberg 10^th in these rankings as well but that may have been a tad harsh given the poor strategy call is likely to have come from the team.

10. Felipe Massa (last week: 7^th, down three spots) (Season high: 3^rd, low: 10^th)

Massa slides to the bottom of the top ten after finishing a staggering 40 seconds behind his race-winning team-mate, despite hustling him in the opening laps. While Massa did lose time during the first round of pit-stops, he lacked the pace of his team-mate throughout the race and almost found himself under pressure from Ricciardo in the dying stages.

11. Charles Pic (last week: 19^th, up eight spots) (Season high: 11^th, low 19^th)

Pic comes agonizingly close to breaking into the top ten in his Caterham after his most competitive showing of the season so far. Although sill beaten by Bianchi, he finished only a handful of seconds behind his fellow Frenchman as he seemingly extracted the maximum possible from the car.

=12. Romain Grosjean (last week: 8^th, down four spots) (Season high: 8^th, low: 12^th) & Nico Rosberg (last week: 2^nd, down ten spots) (Season high: 2^nd, low: 12^th)

A similar tale for both Grosjean and Rosberg. Firmly put in the shade by their team-mates in both qualifying and the race, the only difference was that Rosberg never saw the checkered flag. Both drivers would have fancied themselves as being the top dog in their respective teams but the pair of them have had difficult starts to their seasons.

14. Jean-Eric Vergne (last week: 9^th, down six spots) (Season high: 7^th, low: 15^th)

After spending the first two Power Rankings in the top ten, JEV slips down after a hugely disappointing weekend in which the tables were well and truly turned at Toro Rosso. Massively outqualified by Ricciardo, JEV was not helped by Webber spinning him which caused him to lose time and downforce.

15. Mark Webber (last week: 1^st, down thirteen spots) (Season high: 1^st, low: 14^th)

An all-round dreadful weekend for Webber. The team didn’t put enough fuel in his car in qualifying which eventually saw him excluded from the session and start from the pit lane. His drive through the field was very reminiscent of his 2011 drive in Shanghai until his coming together with Vergne, for which the stewards deemed him at fault for the incident and handed him a three place grid drop for next weekend. After one basic error in qualifying, his wheel wasn’t fully attached in the race leading to his DNF and the inevitable conspiracy theories flying around. I had initially pegged Webber as =12^th with Rosberg and Grosjean, but the incident with JEV cost him a drop in the rankings as well.

"Three wheels on my wagon" for Webber
Source: Reuters

16. Valtteri Bottas (last week: 11^th, down five spots) (Season high: 11^th, low: 16^th)

Valtteri Bottas slips back down to sixteenth after a hugely anonymous weekend. As I have already stated in these Power Rankings, Williams have produced a disappointing car and the best Bottas can hope for is to beat his team-mate, which he has done at all three races.

17. Sergio Pérez (last week: 16^th, down one spot) (Season high: 12^th, low: 17^th)

A difficult race for Pérez who, like Hülkenberg, suffered from attempting to run the soft tyres in the middle of the race: he was relatively close to Button until the first round of stops but ended up almost half a minute behind him. Checo’s McLaren career has yet to take off and the pressure will soon be mounting.

18. Adrian Sutil (last week: 14^th, down four spots) (Season high: 5^th, low: 18^th)

Leading the race in Melbourne seems like such a long time ago. Sutil was another driver to have a weekend to forget. Outqualified by di Resta, he actually found himself ahead of his team-mate by the end of lap one as the pair made contact (for which Sutil was probably blameless given where di Resta was on the track – rather like Perez/Räikkönen incident). Unfortunately, just three laps later, he was the victim of a Takuma Sato style attack from an out of control Esteban Gutierrez and that was that.

Gutierrez slams into Sutil
Source: Crash.net

19. Max Chilton (last week: 21^st, up two spots) (Season high: 19^th, low: 21^st) & 20. Giedo van der Garde (last week: 20^th, no change) (Season high: 20^th, low 21^st)

I could almost copy and paste what I wrote last week but just switch the positions. Both drivers were again comfortably outpaced by their respective team-mates but they also kept their noses clean. At this stage of their careers, it is all about gaining invaluable experience.

21. Esteban Gutiérrez (last week: 15th, down six spots) (Season high: 15^th, low: 21^st)

After two steady races, the Mexican rookie committed a very basic and costly error. He simply misjudged his braking at the end of the long straight and ploughed into Sutil. Had no choice but to accept full responsibility for the incident and will take a five place grid drop in Bahrain. He can be forgiven the odd big mistake given his rookie status which keeps him from dropping to the bottom of the rankings…

22. Pastor Maldonado (last week: 22^nd, no change) (Season high: 22^nd, low: 22^nd)

Three editions of F1 Power Rankings and three times it has been Maldonado propping up the table. Edged out by Bottas right at the death, his extremely underwhelming start to the season continues.