The first sprint weekend of the 2025 Formula 1 season left some drivers and teams particularly exposed - though by and large the latest crop of rookies coped well with both the format limitation and the particular demands of the Shanghai circuit.
But how did they compare to the veterans - and was the race winner the true standout driver of the weekend?
How do the rankings work? The 20 drivers will be ranked in order of performance from best to worst on each grand prix weekend. This will be based on the full range of criteria, ranging from pace and racecraft to consistency and whether they made key mistakes. How close each driver got to delivering on the maximum performance potential of the car will be an essential consideration.
It’s important to note both that this reflects performance across the entire weekend, cognisant of the fact that qualifying is effectively ‘lap 0’ of the race and key to laying the foundations to the race, and that it is not a ranking of the all-round qualities of each driver. It’s simply about how they performed on a given weekend. Therefore, the ranking will fluctuate significantly from weekend to weekend.
And with each of the 10 cars fundamentally having different performance potential and ‘luck’ (ie factors outside of a driver’s control) contributing to the way the weekend plays out, this ranking will also differ significantly from the overall results.
Started: 4th Finished: 4th
The RB21 is “still not where I want it to be” and lacks pace. Within that context to have qualified second and finished third in the sprint, then been 'profoundly fourth' in the race was a superb performance - in a car Lawson’s struggles show is not easy to get the best out of.
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Other than a tiny moment in Turn 1 at the start, which ensured Verstappen ended up behind both Ferraris, this was an immaculate weekend.
Verdict: The only driver to maximise everything.
Started: 1st Finished: 1st
Only dragged down for his slight underachievement in the sprint element of the weekend, with small errors in SQ3 combined with McLaren’s runplan misjudgment costing him a shot at pole position.
Without that, he likely would have won the sprint from pole rather than battling through to second.
He was immaculate in the main event, bagging his first pole position thanks to time gained by attacking the hairpin and final corner, then controlling the race from the front.
Verdict: Missing sprint win in a tiny blemish on a great weekend.
Started: 2nd Finished: 3rd
Russell described his approach to the weekend as one of not “chasing miracles”, and he largely delivered on that. Perhaps he could have finished a place higher than fourth in the sprint given Verstappen's struggles, but he overachieved in qualifying proper by putting the car on the front row thanks to nailing the tyre prep on the final lap.
In the main race, he did everything he could and settled into third place after Norris got around him at Turn 1, the consequence of being pinned to a tight entry to Turn 1 by Piastri’s car positioning.
Verdict: Save for one place in the sprint, maximised the weekend.
Started: 10th Finished: 7th
After a solid sprint, albeit one in which he perhaps should have beaten the Aston Martins, Albon was completely on top of the car - and the tyres - in the main event.
With Sainz’s struggles revealing how tricky the Williams is, Albon executed a well-judged first stint and could even have finished higher had he been brought into the pits slightly earlier.
Verdict: Made light of car trickiness.
Started: 11th Finished: 5th
He didn’t get the best of the sprint, largely because of struggling in qualifying in a car that wasn’t right.
Having “changed three-quarters of the car”, he beat Antonelli courtesy of a bold on-the-grass pass, and kept the hobbled Mercedes behind. That meant seventh-on-the-road and midfield ‘victory’, which became fifth when the Ferraris were thrown out.
Verdict: At his superb best in the main event.
Started: 5th Finished: DSQ
Hamilton’s performance in the sprint was outstanding both in qualifying and the race, but couldn’t be repeated in the main event. The pace wasn’t in the car to do that, but despite outqualifying Leclerc by one tenth his race was more of a struggle as he was slower than his team-mate despite an undamaged car.
Hamilton/Leclerc swap: How F1 broadcast angered Ferrari - Read more
Sixth-on-the-road after dropping behind Verstappen by gambling on a second stop turned to dust when he was disqualified for skid wear.
Verdict: Sprint dominance elevates ranking.
Started: 9th Finished: 16th
Was again one of the standout midfield drivers, taking a fine sixth in the sprint ahead of Antonelli before over-reaching on his final Q3 lap and making a mistake.
That left him ninth, but he ran eighth in the first stint and was firmly on course for points until being derailed by Racing Bulls sticking with a two-stop strategy, and a front-wing failure.
There’s no evidence as yet that a driver error caused any damage he picked up, meaning it doesn’t count against him in the ranking.
Verdict: Drove superbly, but again unlucky.
Started: 17th Finished: 8th
Bearman fared better than Ocon in the sprint, and he might have done so again in the main event but for falling in Q1 after not reaching the line in time to start his final qualifying lap thanks to traffic.
But he drove an incisive race, executing his inverted hard/medium strategy well and making some important passes on his way to 10th on the road. That became eighth (thanks to the Ferraris being thrown out), a just reward for a strong weekend.
Verdict: Put his Melbourne nightmare firmly behind him.
Started: 14th Finished: 9th
Stroll seemed more in tune with the Aston Martin from the start of the weekend, making SQ3 and then hanging onto a points position ahead of Norris for much of the sprint before inevitably being passed.
Although he slipped behind Alonso in qualifying proper, he drove a decent race with a good stint on hards before struggling with graining on mediums after pitting with 20 laps to go, preventing him making progress in the second stint.
Given the lack of pace of the Aston Martin, 12th on the road was a good effort, rewarded with promotion to ninth place.
Verdict: Continued his decent start to the year.
Started: 3rd Finished: 2nd
Although the brake problem, caused by a leak in the system that required ever-reduced peak brake pressure to be applied in the closing stages of the race, denied him his chance to pressure Piastri, he was anyway half a step behind his team-mate all weekend.
The sprint component went badly, with errors both in qualifying and the race as he needlessly squandered points, although as the weekend progressed and the front-graining limitation reduced he got stronger. He then did a superb job in the race to manage the worsening brake issue by adapting his style to reduce peak brake pressure.
Verdict: Sprint struggles drag him down.
Started: 7th Finished: 11th
Hadjar failed to put together a lap in SQ2, meaning the sprint part of the weekend was a write-off, but he did superbly in qualifying not only to reach Q3 but also head the midfield.
While overall his underlying pace wasn’t as strong as Tsunoda’s, he converted seventh on the grid into ninth in the early stages after a tricky first lap, and was on target for points until strategy derailed him. Getting stuck behind Doohan, in part due to an overly-robust defence by the latter, meant any chance of returning to the points faded even with the help provided by three exclusions.
Verdict: Very promising in flashes.
Started: 6th Finished: DSQ
The longer the race weekend went on, the more comfortable Leclerc became. A step behind Hamilton in the sprint component, in which he finished fifth, he was more convincing in qualifying proper, then had a clear pace advantage over Hamilton in the grand prix.
Did tyre wear really cause Leclerc's disqualification? Read more
On the downside, a small misjudgment on the first lap while battling with Verstappen meant he clipped his team-mate at Turn 2 and suffered wing damage. Despite the impression this didn’t impact his pace, it did and without that error he certainly would have been on the podium rather than losing fourth late on to Verstappen. But it was all in vain as he was excluded for being underweight.
Verdict: An untidy weekend.
Started: 8th Finished: 6th
Antonelli’s inexperience showed through a combination of pushing the corner-entries too hard at times and his struggle with getting the tyres in the right window for a qualifying lap. That’s to be expected, and meant he never showed Russell’s pace, but after a solid run to seventh in the sprint after losing out to Tsunoda in a first-lap battle, his subdued pace in the race was a result of floor damage sustained when he hit debris from the Leclerc/Hamilton contact on the first lap. That meant rear tyres were a problem, which combined with being undercut by Ocon at the first stops added up to eighth on-the-road, which became sixth after the exclusions.
Verdict: A learning weekend.
Started: 16th Finished: DSQ
While there were flashes of form, notably with a decent drive to 12th in the sprint, the Alpine was not at the races in China. Combined with struggles with traffic compromising the qualifying sessions, it meant an anonymous weekend for Gasly.
He did what he could, albeit without ever appearing to have a significant underlying pace advantage over his team-mate, but missed out on the chance to inherit a couple of points when Ferrari was excluded after his own car was found to be 1kg underweight.
Verdict: A solid weekend in tricky circumstances.
Started: 13th Finished: DNF
Alonso was marginally the weaker Aston Martin driver in the sprint element of the weekend, proving slightly more untidy than his team-mate at times before following him home 10th. He shaded Stroll in qualifying for the main race, but retired from 12th place early on after the right-rear brake overheated - likely the consequence of picking up some debris on the first lap.
Verdict: Not at his best.
Started: 15th Finished: 10th
This was a tough weekend for Sainz, who never really got on top of the tricky Williams throughout the weekend. That meant he was unable to reach the final segment of qualifying on either occasion and spent the weekend toiling deep in the midfield.
Inheriting a point after finishing 13th on the road at least meant he got something from the weekend, but while there’s no doubt he’ll get there eventually his current struggles with the Williams were exposed in China.
Verdict: Puzzled by the Williams.
Started: 19th Finished: 14th
Performed well in the sprint, reaching SQ2 and then having a decent race before being hit by Doohan.
The main event went less well, although it was traffic at the end of his prep lap in the form of Hamilton passing him that meant he couldn’t keep up his 100% record of making the second phase of qualifying.
A rookie error came on the opening lap while battling with Bearman as the combination of dirty air and low track grip led to him spinning into the gravel, but after recovering he was on a hiding to nothing given the Sauber’s lack of pace.
Verdict: Race error overshadowed many positives.
Started: 18th Finished: 13th
Like all the rookies, Doohan struggled with the tyres but just as in Australia his pace relative to Gasly again caught the eye.
Unfortunately, on top of Alpine’s struggles the races didn’t go so well for him with clashes with Bortoleto in the sprint and Hadjar, who he forced off the track, in the main event compromising his results. Without the 10-second penalty for the latter, he would have finished 11th.
Verdict: Pace good, but race errors hurt.
Started: 12th Finished: 15th
Hulkenberg started the weekend with eye-catching FP1 pace, but it was an illusion for Sauber as it was set late in the session with the track having rubbered in more. He struggled with the tyres in sprint qualifying, starting from the pits after suspension changes and driving a conservative race.
His qualifying performance was outstanding, coming close to a Q3 spot, before an average launch combined with a trip through the gravel at Turn 3 while battling with Alonso dropped him to the back.
He also had car damage, which he really couldn’t afford given even a healthy Sauber was the slowest car in China.
Verdict: Rest of the weekend didn’t match up to his Saturday qualifying.
Started: 20th (pits) Finished: 12th
Lawson had a trip through the Turn 3 gravel on his first flying lap of practice, which set the tone for a weekend on which he never came to terms with the Red Bull.
He climbed to 15th in the sprint, but his pace was poor in the main race, with “getting the car in the right window” eluding him all weekend.
Should Red Bull drop Lawson already? Our verdict
Red Bull is asking a lot, perhaps too much, of a driver in their first full season at tracks he’s unfamiliar with, but even taking that and the fact there was just one free practice session in China into account, the extent of Lawson’s struggles was a surprise.
Verdict: Must do better.
