Oscar Piastri might have won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - but he isn't the top pick in Edd Straw's Formula 1 driver rankings this week.
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: 3rd
Charles Leclerc got everything out of the car in qualifying but was frustrated by having to battle both understeer and oversteer, and the fact that fourth place was the limit of what was possible.
That changed in the race, as he showed formidable race pace and executed a long first stint on mediums, as he earned Ferrari's first grand prix podium of the season after keeping Norris at arm's length in the closing stages.
Verdict: Made the most of a capricious Ferrari.
Started: 6th Finished: 8th
Carlos Sainz outpaced two potentially faster cars in Lewis Hamilton and Yuki Tsunoda in qualifying, and although the tight battle with Alex Albon didn't play out in full thanks to his team-mate’s Q2 strategy, Sainz appeared to get almost everything he could out of the car in Q3.
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He slipped behind Hamilton at the start, then the recovering Lando Norris, but given that those were significantly quicker cars, that was inevitable and he did everything he needed to do to ensure he won the midfield fight, playing the team game by letting Albon into DRS range to help ensure Isack Hadjar was no threat.
Verdict: Couldn't have done more.
Started: 2nd Finished: 1st
Although Oscar Piastri was satisfied with his qualifying lap, there will have been a tinge of disappointment that he missed out by a hundredth.
For the first time this season, he seemed not to have an answer for Norris's edge of pace, but he more than made up for that tiny deficit by avoiding mistakes, making a great start and keeping his head in battle with Max Verstappen.
What made this win impressive was that it came under pressure on a weekend when he wasn't at his formidable best.
Verdict: Slower than Norris, but executed far better.
Started: 1st Finished: 2nd
While the Red Bull was far stronger in Jeddah than it had been, it still needed Verstappen to thread the needle in qualifying, along with Norris's blunder and a tow from Tsunoda to make an unexpected pole position possible.
More on the Jeddah penalty controversy
- Mark Hughes: Verstappen had Piastri beaten if he'd been let off
- The evidence Red Bull thought was compelling
- Verstappen's 'say nothing' rationale
- The stewards' reasoning
- Our verdict on the row
- Red Bull's ex-sporting director's take
In the race, the car was genuinely quick but a mediocre start meant he slipped behind Piastri. His first corner attack always looked doomed and potentially he would have had a better chance of winning had he dropped behind and fought from there.
Verdict: Formidably fast but didn't calculate Turn 1 well.
Started: 3rd Finished: 5th
Although on paper the deficit to pole position of just 0.113s suggested qualifying had been maximised, there was a little more pace in the car as small errors at Turn 22 and the final corner cost him time.
But as George Russell admitted, even if he had started from pole position, which might have been possible with a perfect lap, he was destined to go backwards in the race thanks to tyre troubles and couldn't avoid falling behind Leclerc and Norris.
Verdict: Slight room for improvement.
Started: 11th Finished: 9th
Albon had the pace to make Q3, but as he was outside the top 10 on the first Q2 runs the decision was made to run early.
He set his time with four minutes remaining, so the track evolution and potential tow advantages he missed out on meant he missed out by seven thousandths - and lapped 0.085s off Sainz.
The Pierre Gasly/Tsunoda clash made his race easier and he followed Sainz home, keeping Hadjar at bay in the second stint with some assistance from his team-mate acting as the lead of a DRS train.
Verdict: Q2 cast him as second-best Williams.
Started: 13th Finished: 11th
Given the Aston Martin wasn't quite as quick as the team hoped in Jeddah, Fernando Alonso did a good job to put it solidly in the middle of Q2 and finish one place off the points - albeit assisted by a place gained to Liam Lawson's penalty.
He described it as "heartbreaking" to miss out on points after a strong race and given the pace of the Aston Martin, there's not much he could have done to finish any higher.
Verdict: Did what he could.
Started: 14th Finished: 10th
While he underachieved in qualifying by his own admission leaving a couple of tenths on the table, he made up for it in the race largely thanks to a little good fortune on the first lap, followed by a decisive pass on Alonso.
That put him 10th, which he held to the end in what he felt was his best all-round race drive yet.
Verdict: So-so qualifying, excellent race.
Started: 9th Finished: DNF
Gasly hit the ground running by topping FP1, although with the Alpine ultimately settling down as second-best to Williams in the midfield pack he did a good job to reach Q3.
The early seconds of the race went well, but after repassing Tsunoda entering Turn 4/5, he was tagged by the Red Bull and pitched into the wall.
While he accepted Tsunoda made an honest error and stewards put it down as a racing incident, Gasly's only contribution to the collision was to make a legitimate pass that put him in a risky position.
Verdict: Strong, but race was short-lived.
Started: 5th Finished: 6th
Kimi Antonelli couldn't match his team-mate's pace, although the gap of four-and-a-half tenths in qualifying exaggerated the deficit thanks to a mistake at Turn 1 on his final lap.
His race pace was much closer as he initially held position before falling behind the recovering Norris.
Verdict: Another solid weekend banked.
Started: 15th Finished: 13th
Ollie Bearman was the stronger Haas driver in Jeddah, although admitted he didn't get the most out of qualifying thanks to not having the tyres perfectly prepared for his Q2 lap.
That said, the pace of the Haas was such that he wouldn't have gained much in terms of position.
He drove a decent race, struggling a little on the first stint on mediums but settling into good pace once on the hards. He only just missed out on picking up 12th when Lawson was penalised.
Verdict: Was the stronger Haas driver.
Started: 16th Finished: 16th
Lance Stroll's Q1 pace was reasonable, just 0.097s off Alonso, but it was enough to mean he was eliminated while his team-mate advanced to Q2.
After starting on hards, Stroll was stuck with the unenviable task of running long in the hope of fluking a safety car, a job he did decently but without the slice of luck the team was looking for.
Verdict: A respectable weekend.
Started: 18th Finished: 15th
Nico Hulkenberg had a puncher's chance of reaching Q2, but his final run of Q3 went awry at Turn 1 when he locked up and cut the corner thanks to less than expected bite - despite going conservative because of concerns about front tyre temperatures.
The race was an exercise in futility, running a longer first stint on the hards and doing a good job to keep quicker cars behind, but it was only worth 15th place.
Verdict: Untidy qualifying, decent race.
Started: 10th Finished: 4th
Norris was on it in Saudi Arabia, confident and quick, but his weekend turned on the misjudgement he made in trying to carry more speed into Turn 4 on his first Q3 run.
From 10th, he drove a good race after starting on hards, although he lost a little more time than he should have being outthought by Hamilton's DRS tricks. Third was perhaps achievable with a perfect race, but it was still a decent recovery.
Verdict: Q3 blunder cost him likely pole and win.
Started: 20th Finished: 18th
Gabriel Bortoleto couldn't catch a break on Friday and Saturday, losing FP2 to a fuel-tank leak and then enduring a tricky FP3.
After banking what would stand as his best lap on his first Q1 run, a plastic bag ruined the second, while on the final run, a big tow from Verstappen led to a mistake when he didn't adapt his braking point for Turn 1 and spun.
The race was a tough one, pitting to take hards under the safety car at the end of lap one and running to the end, struggling for grip at the end and being relegated to last by Jack Doohan on the run to the line.
Verdict: Circumstances were against him.
Started: 12th Finished: 12th
For the first time since his return to Racing Bulls, Lawson showed he had the legs of Hadjar. After outpacing him by 0.227s in qualifying, he was initially ahead of his team-mate, but the Gasly/Tsunoda collision happened as he was seeking a way around Alonso, resulting in him cutting the track and being passed by Hadjar.
On that his race turned, as although Racing Bulls split strategy, they ended up running together in the Sainz-led DRS train in the second stint.
Although he finished 11th on the road, that became 12th once he was hit with a 10-second penalty for cutting the track while passing Doohan, a marginal error but a needless one.
Verdict: Penalty offence hurts his ranking.
Started: 19th Finished: 14th
A moment in Turn 1/2 on his final qualifying lap meant the gap of over half-a-second exaggerated his deficit to Bearman but, even if he'd maximised his potential, he'd only have been a couple of places higher, given he was never as convincing as his team-mate at Jeddah.
He executed a tricky race strategy well, pitting at the end of lap one for hards and running to the end, having comfortably the best race of the three drivers who tried that strategy.
Verdict: Lacked his team-mate's edge of pace.
Started: 7th Finished: 7th
At the start of the weekend, Hamilton was optimistic he could apply the driving technique lessons of the strong second stint in the Bahrain GP.
After qualifying just over half a second off Leclerc, he said it was a case of "back to the drawing board".
Read more: Why Hamilton thinks his entire 2025 season could be painful
He complained of sliding throughout the race, with understeer in the first stint and significant tyre deg, with the car working a little better in the second stint but still slow.
He did at least get ahead of Sainz at the start, although soon slipped back to seventh when Norris came through.
Verdict: To quote Hamilton, "horrible".
Started: 17th Finished: 17th
Jack Doohan never recovered from a difficult Friday of "fighting some anomalies and some underlying gremlins", meaning that by the time he got the car where he wanted it on Saturday and started to build confidence he was behind the curve.
A gap of just over three tenths to Gasly meant he was eliminated in Q1, which meant pitting for hards under the safety car on lap one was the right strategic gamble, albeit one that didn't pay off as he got stuck behind Hulkenberg and was later shuffled back - with a second stop at least allowing a late charge and pass of Bortoleto on the run to the line.
Verdict: His toughest weekend performance-wise.
Started: 9th Finished: DNF
Another weekend of solid progress not fully realised, as a big snap in the middle of the Turn 4-5 Esses cost him time and meant he lapped just over two tenths slower than he had in Q2.
That meant a massive nine-tenth deficit to Verstappen, although he did make a crucial contribution to his team-mate’s pole position lap by providing a tow on the start/finish straight.
His race was ruined at Turn 5, when he needlessly clashed with Gasly and picked up terminal damage.
Verdict: Carried more blame for first-lap clash.
