Rating of the best and worst Formula 1 drivers

Driver ratings on PlanetF1.com are a key part of our post-race coverage, and whether you agree with our ratings or not (mostly not, judging by the comments sections…), we track the average rating of each driver in F1 2024.

As a result, this forms our “power rating” for the season as a whole, so a good race for any driver can move it up, while a bad race can bring it down. By the end of the season we will have a full table for you to view – and it is intended to reflect the performance of the drivers in their cars, rather than a straight World Championship order.

F1 2024 Power Rankings by Driver

First, a little housekeeping. Any regular reader of our post-race rankings will know that each driver is assigned a number from 1 to 10 for their performance throughout the race weekend, most of which will be for their Grand Prix performance, but in other circumstances their performance in qualifying and sprint can also be taken into account.

We’ll just be looking at full-time drivers to avoid skewed ratings, so with apologies to Oliver Birman after his £9.5 in Saudi Arabia and £8.5 in Baku, he won’t count towards the overall average unless he will not remain in the ranking. A place at Haas on a permanent basis – although he would be at the very top of the rankings, so he can take that place nonetheless!

We will update these ratings throughout the year, with our ratings reflecting the average ratings of our drivers over the entire season.

Ready? Let’s see.

(Average estimates correct as of 2024 United States Grand Prix)

1: Max Verstappen: 8.47
(Last race: 9)

Max Verstappen is still leading the World Championship and currently tops our power rankings, but as you can see the pack of pursuers is getting closer to him.

2: Lando Norris: 8.36
(Last race: 8)

Lando Norris is at the bottom of Verstappen both in the World Championship standings and in our power rankings. We know he would prefer the title, but right now he is nowhere near the average driver rating.

3 (+1): Charles Leclerc: 8.34
(Last race: 10)

US Grand Prix winner Charles Leclerc moves up for the second race in a row, his perfect ten in Austin ahead of Oscar Piastri.

4: (-1) Oscar Piastri: 8.23
(Last race: 7)

After a strong performance in the last races, Piastri received his lowest result since Zandvoort at the US Grand Prix.

5 (-1): Franco Colapinto: 8.12
(Last race: 8)

Yes, Colapinto has only done four races, but so far they have shown excellent results.

His power ranking is clearly skewed compared to the rest of the players, given that their averages are taken from the entire season to date, so his ranking will likely fluctuate more than most players for the rest of the year.

Unless, of course, he can maintain the same results as so far.

6 (new entry): Liam Lawson: 8
(Last race: 8)

Like Colapinto, Lawson’s ranking is flattering because of his relatively small database.

After an impressive debut in Austin after replacing Daniel Ricciardo, he will have to maintain this level of performance until the end of Formula 1 2024.

6 (+2): Carlos Sainz: 7.69
(Last race: 9.5)

Sainz beat both Mercedes drivers after a productive weekend for Ferrari in Austin.

7 (+1): George Russell: 7.68
(Last race: 9)

Having completed the Formula 1 2024 qualifying battle on time, Russell is now ahead of his teammate Hamilton in our power rankings.

8 (-1): Lewis Hamilton: 7.65
(Last race: 5)

Recorded his worst result of the season in Austin with his lowest qualifying time since Brazil 2017, followed by an early exit to the gravel.

9: Nico Hulkenberg: 7.21
(Last race: 8)

A good weekend for Hulkenberg, whose failure to get into the third quarter was the only blemish in Austin.

10: Fernando Alonso: 6.78
(Last race: 6.5)

Alonso appears to be getting all he can from his Aston Martin at the moment, although the edge of the glasses appears to be at the car’s ceiling.

11: Pierre Gasly: ​​6.69
(Last race: 7)

After Singapore, Gasly was tied on points with Yuki Tsunoda, but a very good weekend for the Alpine rider in Texas created distance between the pair.

12: Yuki Tsunoda: 6.61
(Last race: 5.5)

The loss of the returning Lawson, which ended in a spin, did Tsunoda no favors at the US Grand Prix.

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13: Alex Albon: 6.47
(Last race: 6.5)

Not the best time for Albon, who was beaten by rookie teammate Colapinto in the last two races.

14: Esteban Ocon: 6.42
(Last race: 5)

The difficult form of Alpine has not allowed Ocon to show his best side recently: his best result of the season – 8 – was obtained in Canada.

15: Lance Stroll: 5.89
(Last race: 5.5)

Lance Stroll has generally held up better against Fernando Alonso this season, but his team-mate, the two-time world champion, is still on less than half the points at this stage.

16 (+1): Kevin Magnussen: 5.77
(Last race: 7)

Magnussen’s ratings this season have varied widely from race to race among all the drivers on the grid, with results of 8/10 at Imola either side of 2/10 at Monaco and Miami.

A strong weekend in Austin, culminating in seventh place in the sprint, put him ahead of Sergio Perez.

17 (-1): Sergio Perez: 5.6
(Last race: 2)

Oh God.

Perez has finished higher than sixth in our rankings just twice (Imola and Monza) since his last podium finish in China in April, which speaks for itself.

18: Zhou Guanyu: 5.55
(Last race: 4)

It is perhaps a reflection of Sauber’s form that both of their drivers have dropped to the bottom of the power ranking table at this stage of the season.

19: Valtteri Bottas: 5.52
(Last race: 5)

It is probably as much a problem for his team as it is for him that he is performing so poorly, but the fact remains that Bottas has not scored a point for a long time – and he will try to do so as soon as he can.

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