Lewis Hamilton ‘not in F1’s top 10 drivers’ as Max Verstappen only second best | F1 | Sport
Lewis Hamilton doesn’t feature in the top 10 drivers on the official F1 power rankings leaderboard, despite finding himself in seventh position in the Drivers’ Championship standings. The 39-year-old has endured a tough season with Mercedes for the third year in a row and has only been able to clinch four podium finishes.
Hamilton picked up just one point at the Brazilian Grand Prix at the weekend after finishing the race in 10th.
He will be hoping to resurrect his aspirations of winning a record eighth world title when he moves to Ferrari at the end of the season.
The Aramco F1 power rankings are determined by a panel of five judges, with each member assessing every driver on the grid following race weekends.
The drivers are given a score out of 10 to account for their performances across the weekend, with the capabilities of their cars taken out of the equation. The scores from the five judges are averaged out to produce a race score, and an overall leaderboard is formed throughout the season.
An updated version of the leaderboard displaying the top 10 drivers has been posted in the aftermath of the Sao Paulo race. And Hamilton is nowhere to be seen.
Red Bull star Max Verstappen, meanwhile, is only in second place, despite winning eight races this season and leading the championship by 62 points.
The Dutchman returned to form in Brazil following his recent downturn in fortunes as he navigated the wet driving conditions better than his rivals to cruise to victory.
He had started the race in P17 after being handed a five-place grid penalty but took advantage of a red flag to pit for fresh tyres, before eventually overcoming Esteban Ocon, who finished second.
Lando Norris tops the power rankings chart, with an average score of 8.3 across the season. Verstappen has a score of 8.2, while Liam Lawson is in third place with a score of 7.9 after featuring in only three Grands Prix following VCARB’s decision to ditch Daniel Ricciardo in his favour in September.
Ferrari man Charles Leclerc has an average score of 7.8 and is fourth, with Oscar Piastri and Ollie Bearman tied in fifth on 7.7 points. Carlos Sainz and George Russell have only been able to muster seventh and eighth-place respectively, with Franco Colapinto and Nico Hulkenberg rounding off the top 10.
Verstappen has three races remaining to jump back above Norris at the top of the chart before the season ends. But he will be more focused on securing title silverware, which could come as soon as the Las Vegas Grand Prix later this month.
