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POWER RANKINGS: Which drivers impressed the judges at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix?
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Max Verstappen put in another assured drive to claim victory in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, while much talk surrounded the impressive F1 debut of Oliver Bearman. But who else impressed the judges enough to land a spot in this week's top 10? Scroll down to check out the leaderboard.
How it works
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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
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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)
Verstappen added to his winning streak by claiming victory at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, with the result marking his ninth consecutive win as well as the 56th of his career. The Dutchman has made a near flawless start to his title defence in 2024.
After getting a last-minute call-up to replace the unwell Carlos Sainz at Ferrari ahead of Friday's FP3 session, Bearman went on to enjoy an incredibly impressive F1 debut. The teenager pulled off a series of overtakes and resisted late-race pressure from Lando Norris to finish in P7, scoring his first ever points in the process.
INSIGHT: How Ferrari super-sub Bearman made his mark on and off the track in Saudi Arabia
On the other side of the Ferrari garage, it was a solid weekend for Charles Leclerc. Despite losing a position to Sergio Perez in the early stages after starting from the front row of the grid, the Monegasque took the final podium position in what was a mostly lonely drive to third.
Oscar Piastri had a good outing in Jeddah. The Australian was the sole McLaren to pit during the early Safety Car phase – with the team opting to avoid a double-stack strategy – and, despite spending much of the race trying to find a way past Lewis Hamilton, still managed to cross the line in fourth.
Perez had a strong start to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with the Mexican overtaking Leclerc for P2 within the opening laps. While a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release in the pits put his position at risk, Perez ultimately built enough of a gap to hold on to second place, marking Red Bull's second consecutive one-two result.
Haas scored their first point of 2024 via a P10 finish for Nico Hulkenberg. With the German driver one of four in the field to stay out on track during the Safety Car period, the team utilised a clever strategy in which Kevin Magnussen helped to back up a number of cars behind, enabling Hulkenberg to stay ahead after eventually making his stop.
Aston Martin's hopes were resting on Fernando Alonso in Jeddah following an early crash for Lance Stroll. The Spaniard delivered – despite losing a position to Piastri in the opening laps, Alonso ended the day in P5 after managing to maintain a gap to the chasing George Russell in sixth.
It proved to be a frustrating race for Russell, with the Mercedes driver spending much of the event within a few seconds of Alonso but unable to overtake. Despite this, the Briton took home points for the Silver Arrows by holding onto P6.
As one of the few cars not to pit under the Safety Car in the opening stages of the race, Norris found himself on a different strategy to most. While the gamble ultimately didn't pay off – with the McLaren driver finishing the race in P8 – there were still signs of good pace from the MCL38.
After contact with Magnussen left his Williams with front wing damage, Alex Albon struggled to make his way through the pack. However, the Thai driver still made some moves in a tightly-packed midfield battle and only just missed out on a point in P11.
FACTS AND STATS: Bearman makes it four Brits in the points for the first time since 1968
Missing out
Just losing out on a place in the top half of our rankings was Magnussen. It was an eventful evening for the Dane, who was handed two separate 10-second time penalties for incidents with Albon and Yuki Tsunoda respectively, but did a solid job for the team in creating a gap up ahead for Hulkenberg.
READ MORE: 6 Winners and 5 Losers from Saudi Arabia – Who impressed under the lights in Jeddah?
The standings
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