Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes ended their longest win drought since early last year. Following their Russian Grand Prix victory, how do the Formula 1 Driver Power Rankings look?
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton entered the 16th race on the 21-race 2019 Formula 1 schedule, the Russian Grand Prix, at Sochi Autodrom on a three-race win drought that spanned nearly two months, his longest win drought since early in the 2018 season.
Additionally, Mercedes entered it on a three-race win drought, tying their longest win drought since the 2013 season.
Both win droughts came to an end in Sochi, and in somewhat of a surprising fashion.
How did Hamilton’s victory in this 53-lap race around the 18-turn, 3.634-mile (5.848-kilometer) Sochi Autodrom road course in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia affect the Formula 1 Power Rankings?
These Formula 1 Driver Power Rankings were calculated using a formula, which you can see here. But before they are revealed, take a look below at some of the highlights of this edition of these rankings.
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Formula 1 Driver Power Rankings Analysis
After three consecutive victories by Ferrari, including two by Charles Leclerc and one by Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton bounced back by winning the Russian Grand Prix ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas in second place.
Mercedes’ 1-2 finish in this race, which was their eighth 1-2 finish of the season, very well could have been Ferrari’s second 1-2 finish in the last two races — and since 2017.
But things did not go their way on many fronts, and a virtual safety car caused by Vettel’s mechanical error-induced retirement ultimately robbed both Vettel and Leclerc of their chances to win and handed victory to the five-time champion and the Silver Arrows.
That said, Leclerc made a big move up the power rankings this week.
No longer included in the calculation for his average finish in the last five races is his 17th place finish in the German Grand Prix, which he recorded after crashing in the rain. As a result, his average finish in the last five races is now 2.20, which is tied for the best in Formula 1 with Hamilton.
The next result to be canceled from this calculation for Hamilton is his Hungarian Grand Prix victory while the next result to be canceled from this calculation for Leclerc is his fourth place finish in this race, so Leclerc could very well see an extended stay in the top two if he has a solid Japanese Grand Prix in under two weeks.
Hamilton, however, is still quite far ahead of Leclerc atop these rankings, and he has been atop these rankings after 14 of the season’s first 16 races, including each of the last 12.