POWER RANKINGS: Who impressed our judges at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix?

George Russell was the driver to beat throughout the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, as he charged to pole position and bagged an important win. But who else impressed our Power Rankings judges at the Baku City Circuit? Check out the latest scores and overall leaderboard 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)

Russell was back to his best on the streets of Baku – leading the way in Thursday practice, taking pole position by a whopping eight tenths of a second, and converting that into victory despite intense pressure from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the closing stages. Unsurprisingly, our judges could not fault his weekend performance.

Verstappen cut a hugely frustrated figure after Qualifying in Azerbaijan, with apparent power unit/battery issues leaving him back in eighth on the grid – a few hours after he had topped final practice. However, race day marked a big step in the right direction for driver and team, as the Dutchman cut his way through the field for a well-earned P2 finish, and very nearly the victory.

Isack Hadjar spent six weeks on the sidelines after injuring his wrist while training over the summer break, but you would not have known it based on the showing he delivered in Baku. Having steadily built up speed throughout practice, he earned a fine fourth position during Qualifying, and turned that into a “first proper podium on pure pace” in F1.

Pierre Gasly was understandably heartbroken when he arrived in the media pen after Saturday’s race. Pushing to turn an impressive P7 on the grid into another strong points haul, the Frenchman was taken out of the action by Alpine team mate Franco Colapinto, meaning they both went home empty-handed. “I don’t think I really have words, and I don’t need the words now,” Gasly sighed.

Esteban Ocon arrived in Azerbaijan stating that he is a “free agent” for 2027, with the Frenchman’s stint at Haas looking set to come to an end. Starting 14th after being impacted by yellow flags in Qualifying, Ocon did his talking on the track in the race by charging to eighth – ahead of team mate Ollie Bearman, and only just being beaten to the line by Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad.

Bearman had qualified a few spots ahead of Ocon in 11th – agonisingly close to Q3. He led Haas’ charge for most of the race, only to make contact with Kimi Antonelli at a Safety Car restart and open the door for his team mate to slip through. Still, P9 at the chequered flag marked a solid result, and ensured the squad got both cars in the points.

Lindblad experienced a rollercoaster weekend around the streets of the Azerbaijani capital. The F1 rookie put himself on the back foot with an FP2 crash for the second successive event, and subsequently placed 15th in Qualifying, after which he admitted to “trying to be too special”. Race day brought some more drama in the form of a collision with team mate Liam Lawson, but he nonetheless did well to cross the line in P7.

Charles Leclerc was left with mixed feelings after Qualifying in Baku. On the one hand, he was pleased to come away with P2, but on the other hand admitted to Russell’s pole advantage being much bigger than anticipated. In the race, he could do nothing to stop Piastri and the Red Bulls from slotting ahead, though reclaimed P4 when the McLaren man locked up into Turn 1 late on.

As mentioned above, Lawson had been the lead Racing Bulls driver in Azerbaijan on his return from Red Bull, only for Lindblad to tag him into a spin at the first Safety Car restart. “I love getting taken out by my team mate. That’s pretty sick,” he sarcastically commented on the radio afterwards. The New Zealander did what he could to make up lost ground, but ultimately had to settle for 12th.

Williams unleashed a raft of updates at the Baku City Circuit as they looked to breathe some life into their difficult 2026 season. It appeared to do the trick, with both drivers progressing to Q2 before Carlos Sainz pulled out a mighty lap and reached Q3. A post-session penalty for failing to adhere to yellow flags saw the Spaniard drop from ninth to 14th on the grid, but he made the most of the drama to come away with a morale-boosting point.

Sergio Perez was in a punchy mood after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, describing it as “one of my best weekends” in the sport after “driving at a high level” from FP1 to the chequered flag. He comfortably headed Cadillac’s efforts with the latest Ferrari power unit, managing to mix it with some of the midfield runners and come away with a respectable P14 – even if several retirements played their part.

Missing out

Just missing out on the Baku Power Rankings list are Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg, who came within a second of scoring a point, and the aforementioned Piastri and Antonelli – the former’s score impacted by that late lock-up, and the latter’s by his Q1 accident.