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POWER RANKINGS: Where do the drivers stand after an intense Belgian Grand Prix weekend?
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It was an action-packed Sprint weekend in Belgium, that saw Max Verstappen take victory in both the 100KM dash and in Sunday's Grand Prix. But where does he come out in this week's rankings? Find out in the judges scores below...
How it works
• Our five-judge panel assess each driver after every Grand Prix and score them out of 10 according to their performance across the weekend – taking machinery out of the equation
• Our experts’ scores are then averaged out to produce a race score – with those scores then tallied up across the season on our overall Power Rankings Leaderboard (at the bottom of the page)
These days, no matter what is thrown his way, Verstappen seems to be able to withstand any challenges at the moment. Whether it was a five-place grid penalty for the race, or Oscar Piastri undercutting him for the lead in the Sprint, he still triumphed in Belgium.
In truth, Verstappen did what he has done all year in Spa, which is to dominate the competition. He qualified fastest for the Sprint and race, before taking victory in both, to cap an extraordinary first half of the year for him and his team.
Hamilton capped off a strong first half of the season with another splendid performance, this time to take fourth place on Sunday. But it could have been better, especially given the fact that he was sat in provisional pole in the Shootout on Saturday.
Traffic, in the form of his team mate George Russell, cost him a potential shot at pole, and a penalty for colliding with Sergio Perez in the Sprint dropped him from fourth to seventh. He then tried to reel in Charles Leclerc for third in the race, but just did not have the legs. All in all, it was the customary solid weekend for Hamilton.
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Spa saw a return to the podium for Leclerc, who had to combat the challenge of the Mercedes of Hamilton to seal his place in third. He also impressed in qualifying, going toe to toe with Verstappen, before ultimately losing out to the Dutch driver – although Verstappen's five place grid drop lifted him to a P1 start in the race.
If Friday was a reminder of Leclerc’s epic one lap pace, Sunday was to show how much of an all-round racer he is. While he could not match the pace of Red Bulls, he maximised the performance of his car to take a well-earned third place.
In what has not been the easiest first half of the season for AlphaTauri, Tsunoda has continued to be a shining star for the team from Faenza. Not for the first time this season, he put in a dogged shift to get his car into the points at Spa.
He was quick all weekend, constantly setting fast laps and finding himself occasionally at the top of the timesheets. And, after qualifying 11th for the race, the Japanese driver was made to work for his place in the top 10, and he did just that.
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A first lap incident with Carlos Sainz, that left him stranded on the side of the track, was a painful way for Piastri to cap what was an excellent weekend, and first half of his rookie season. He even managed to lead his first laps in Formula 1 in Saturday's Sprint.
He took second in that Sprint behind Verstappen, after narrowly losing out in the Shootout by 0.011s to the Red Bull driver. And in a weekend where he had looked on the pace from minute one, it was a tough way to end. But he will be back.
He may have narrowly missed out on a place in the top-10 on Sunday, but you would be hard pressed to find anybody happier with their Spa weekend than Gasly – after holding off the challenge of Perez and then Hamilton to take third in the Sprint.
It was his first top three performance in Alpine colours and while his strategy gamble did not quite pay off on Sunday, as he finished 11th, it was a good three days of racing from Gasly. He will hope it is the start of good things to come after the summer break.
Just as impressive as Gasly was, his Alpine team mate Esteban Ocon also performed admirably. He finished ninth in the Sprint, before fighting his way through the field with some impressive overtakes, to take eighth place in the Grand Prix.
The one black mark against his name will be that crash in qualifying on Friday, that put him on the backfoot for the race. But it was tricky conditions, and he was not the only one to make such a mistake, and he did make up for it on Sunday.
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You know you’ve had a hard race when your fellow drivers come to meet you in the media pen to offer their sympathies. After two races on the podium, it was a little bit more of a difficult weekend for Lando Norris, especially as McLaren’s set-up cost him performance on the straights on Sunday.
Yet still, he recovered from dropping down the order at the start of the race, before fighting his way through the field with some overtakes and some epic tyre management to finish seventh. A drive to be proud of, even if it was not the easiest.
There might not have been a more entertaining driver to watch on Sunday, and possibly so far this season, than Albon, as he put in another battling performance in the hopes of finishing in the top-10. However, this week it did not lead to points.
He narrowly missed out on a place in Q2 on Friday but returned on Saturday to qualify 12th for the Sprint. He could not quite battle his way forwards enough to take points in either race, but it was not for a lack of effort. His efforts brought to a close a strong first half of the year for Albon and Williams.
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He may have been glad to see the back of Spa for the year, but it was still a good end to the weekend for Russell. However, he will not want to see replays of what happened with his team mate on their final laps in the Shootout.
It may have been a struggle all weekend compared to his team mate in Spa, but a sixth place finish in the Grand Prix is not to be sniffed at.
Missing out
Narrowly missing out on a place in the top, despite some impressive scores, are Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso. Perez's Sprint was cut short after a collision with Hamilton, before finishing second in the race.
Alonso, on the other hand, misses out on a place in the top-10 for the first time this season, after crashing out in the Sprint before taking fifth in the race.
Leaderboard
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