An Italian Grand Prix weekend bereft of any major mistakes made for a difficult task in ranking the Formula 1 field at Monza.
Not that there was any real dispute over first place.
Here's Edd Straw's final order:
How do the rankings work? The 20 drivers will be ranked in order of performance from best to worst on each grand prix weekend. This will be based on the full range of criteria, ranging from pace and racecraft to consistency and whether they made key mistakes. How close each driver got to delivering on the maximum performance potential of the car will be an essential consideration.
It’s important to note both that this reflects performance across the entire weekend, cognisant of the fact that qualifying is effectively ‘lap 0’ of the race and key to laying the foundations to the race, and that it is not a ranking of the all-round qualities of each driver. It’s simply about how they performed on a given weekend. Therefore, the ranking will fluctuate significantly from weekend to weekend.
And with each of the 10 cars fundamentally having different performance potential and ‘luck’ (ie factors outside of a driver’s control) contributing to the way the weekend plays out, this ranking will also differ significantly from the overall results.
Started: 1st Finished: 1st
The good old days of 2022 to early 2024 returned for Verstappen and Red Bull, which proved to be unequivocally the strongest package for the first time this year.
Friday was not perfect and it wasn't until qualifying, when a set-up tweak suggested by Verstappen that "pushed us into a rather unusual set-up direction", according to team principal Laurent Mekies, that the car was at its best. Verstappen delivered, with only the hint of a tow, then turned that into a comfortable race victory.
Even after handing the lead to Lando Norris after cutting the first corner as they disputed the position, he breezed through again and never looked back, even though the margin of victory was flattered by the McLaren drivers losing time to an extended first stint.
Verdict: Outstanding on and off track.
Started: 8th Finished: DNF
Given the Aston Martin was far from its best in low-downforce trim, it was at least a little better than at Spa, and Alonso made the best of it. He made Q3 against the run of form thanks to acing the tow from Antonelli in Q2, having underlined he was getting more out of the car by outpacing Lance Stroll by three tenths in Q1.
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He settled into eighth in the first stint having initially passed Bortoleto, then jumped him for good when both pitted on lap 20.
However, his race only lasted a few more laps when he suffered a front-right suspension failure exiting Ascari, which the team's provisional investigations suggested had nothing to do with misadventure on the driver's part. Had he continued, he would surely have bagged a solid points haul.
Verdict: Showed his class before early exit.
Started: 4th Finished: 4th
There were high hopes Leclerc might be able to pitch for pole after showing good pace in practice, especially with suggestions Lewis Hamilton might be used to tow him in Q3.
That didn't happen, with Leclerc 0.215s off pole despite what he described as one of his best laps of the season - albeit on his first Q3 run, with the second slower thanks to no tow.
He had a straightforward race, never looking under serious threat from behind despite George Russell lurking, but also without the pace to do anything about Verstappen and the McLarens ahead.
Verdict: Fourth was the Ferrari's limit, and he delivered.
Started: 5th Finished: 5th
The Mercedes was the fourth-best car at Monza, slightly slower than the Ferrari, although Russell felt he didn't get the best out of it in qualifying thanks to a few snaps of oversteer, without which he might have picked off a Ferrari.
However, it was about right for the Mercedes, given it was marginally the slowest of the top four teams.
From there, he executed the race well, holding fifth in the first stint and keeping Hamilton behind, with the three-lap undercut on Hamilton extending this to a more comfortable advantage, albeit one the Ferrari driver chipped away at.
Verdict: Didn't put a foot wrong.
Started: 2nd Finished: 2nd
Norris prevailed in the intra-McLaren battle, albeit leaving it relatively late in Q3 to assert himself and ending up 0.133s quicker than Piastri - but 0.077s off Verstappen. That said, he flirted with elimination in Q2, with the team asking Piastri to give him a tow on his final run to help him get through, and Norris admitted he "didn't do the best of jobs".
He made a better start than Verstappen and kept his foot in on the grass, which is always where he was likely to end up having used the extra track width on the run from the grid that disappears, with Verstappen always intending to pin him there. But come the first corner, he played the overtaking rules well and ensured Verstappen had to give the lead back.
Ultimately, he didn't have the pace to keep Verstappen behind but did build a handy lead over Piastri, which dwindled later in the extended first stint before the inverted pitstop order and a front-left gunning error cost him 3.9s and second place. Piastri was ordered to let him past, re-establishing Norris in second.
Verdict: Marginally the stronger McLaren driver.
Started: 7th Finished: 8th
The return to Q3 was thanks to an outstanding first lap in Q2, as Bortoleto again showed team-mate Nico Hulkenberg a clean pair of heels in qualifying. He then turned that into a place at the front of the midfield pack on the grid.
The first lap was fraught, cutting the Turn 1 chicane to ensure there was no contact with Russell, then losing a position to Alonso at the second chicane. He later repassed Alonso, although that gain was neutralised by Hamilton coming through then a slow pitstop that meant Alonso's Aston Martin jumped back ahead. He regained that place when Alonso had his suspension failure, then it turned into a battle with the Williams drivers.
Carlos Sainz was not far behind after stopping but then eliminated himself as a threat through his clash with Ollie Bearman, while Bortoleto's crucial seconds lost stuck behind Pierre Gasly allowed Alex Albon to pit and emerged just ahead.
The Sauber didn't have the race pace of the Williams, but perhaps could have held Albon off had he been able to dispatch Gasly slightly quicker.
Verdict: Another strong weekend.
Started: 14th Finished: 7th
The Williams was quick at Monza, which Albon demonstrated by running long after starting on hards and emerging with seventh place, narrowly ahead of Bortoleto.
How you rank him depends partly on the extent to which you hold the drivers responsible for the tyre warm-up nightmare which, given both Albon and Sainz ended up separated by just half a tenth (in Sainz's favour) after both struggling throughout the weekend whatever they did with tyre prep and choices on softs, should probably not be a great deal.
Albon perhaps could have done even more but for spending the first 24 laps behind Sainz, who was on mediums, with even Albon surprised by how much pace he could unleash on hards once clear. He narrowly jumped Bortoleto thanks to the Sauber driver getting caught up with Gasly, with the team seizing on that to get him in and out of the pits ahead.
Verdict: Rapid when not hindered by tyre troubles.
Started: 3rd Finished: 3rd
Piastri rued being a little conservative into the first corner on his final Q3 run, as although he made up time later in the lap it wasn't enough to prevent him losing out to Norris by about a tenth.
He was a little slower than Norris in the first part of the first stint, then a little quicker later on, but was no threat until he jumped ahead thanks to being given the undercut. Instructed to give the position back to Norris, he made it clear he felt slow pitstops were part of the game but obliged, probably a wise move given his points situation and the fact it only represented a six-point swing.
His bold swoop around the outside of Leclerc at the first Lesmo was a highlight, even if he was subsequently repassed.
Verdict: Final Q3 run meant he lost the battle with Norris.
Started: 10th Finished: 6th
Carrying a five-place grid penalty for the reconnaissance–lap offence at Zandvoort, Hamilton knew hopes of a famous Monza Ferrari debut were slim. But he did a decent job in qualifying to lap just over a tenth off Leclerc, which was broadly representative of the single-lap pace gap.
After making a good start, he had to lift to avoid being squeezed on the charge to the first corner then braked late, meaning he slightly cut the first chicane and also forced Yuki Tsunoda to do the same. That put him eighth, which became sixth on lap seven by the time he'd picked off Alonso and Bortoleto.
Hamilton chased Russell in the first stint, but ran longer and lost touch, lapping fractionally quicker in the final eight laps but only closing the initial 7.2s gap after the pitstops by just over 2.5s.
Verdict: One of his strongest Ferrari weekends.
Started: pits Finished: 10th
Running the old-specification floor/sidepods (but with the new Monza rear wing/mirrors), Hadjar felt he had a car to be in Q2, and perhaps with perfect execution Q3, but it was a moot point anyway given he was always going to take a pitlane start for power unit changes.
Even so, he was frustrated to fall in Q1 for the first time in his F1 career after complaining about Sainz's Williams compromising his outlap.
From the pits, the only option was to start on hards and run long, executing the first stint well. While he needed others to hit trouble to pick up 10th, it required him to drive a strong race in a seemingly hopeless cause as well - although he did cut the first chicane at one stage after an overly optimistic passing attempt on Franco Colapinto.
Verdict: Qualifying was messy but race well-executed.
Started: 17th Finished: 17th
After sitting out FP1 to allow Paul Aron to have his first Friday outing for Alpine, Colapinto did a good job to beat Gasly in qualifying. While that was helped by Gasly's untidy final run, Colapinto had been ahead on the first run and close on the second so his pace was good.
He started on mediums, but was on a hiding to nothing given the lack of pace of the Alpine that meant he inevitably was passed by Hadjar in the first stint.
It turned into a battle for last with Gasly (although Stroll fell behind both when he had a slow late pitstop), which was decided in Gasly's favour as Colapinto was ordered to let him past on the penultimate lap, a logical enough decision given Gasly was on fresh softs and therefore significantly faster.
Verdict: Decent weekend in an uncompetitive car.
Started: pits Finished: 16th
The Alpine was the last car you'd choose for Monza given its power unit disadvantage, although Gasly felt he'd have done a little bit better in qualifying but for traffic on his final run. However, it was nip and tuck between him and Colapinto and he ended up losing the qualifying battle.
He ran a long first stint on hards after starting from the pits, which the car didn't have the pace to turn into anything, although he showed decent pace in the circumstances before a late stop for softs.
Verdict: Unremarkable weekend in unremarkable car.
Started: 18th Finished: 14th
Only Lawson ran the Racing Bulls floor and sidepods upgrade, with insufficient parts to equip both cars, and that perhaps contributed to a tricky Friday as attempts to cure balance problems between FP1 and FP2 didn't work as hoped.
Saturday continued to be tricky as Lawson aborted his final Q1 lap after taking a bite of the gravel at Lesmo 1, which he blamed on Alonso's dirty air, which combined with the fact he was slowest before the final runs meant he was always up against it from the back of the 17 cars on the starting grid.
He started on softs and made an early stop to hards, meaning he undercut himself temporarily into points contention. His pace wasn't quite strong enough to avoid losing place, although his attempt to repass Tsunoda at the second chicane on the outside led to his Red Bull stablemate moving over on him. He faded to 14th by the end.
Verdict: Messy Q1 ruined his weekend.
Started: 12th Finished: DNS
Hulkenberg "messed up" his first Q2 lap, starting by going deep at Turn 1 and not getting any better from there, which meant he felt he had to engineer in some margin to avoid an attempt to make Q3 turning into 15th place.
The upshot was 12th, setting what was near-as-makes-no-difference the same time as Bortoleto on the second Q2 runs, only to end up 0.175s slower thanks to his team-mate's strong first attempt. That's the value of a banker lap.
His retirement at the end of the formation lap because of a hydraulics problem means the race couldn't influence his ranking.
Verdict: So-so qualifying means so-so ranking.
Started: 11th Finished: 12th
In many ways, this was Bearman's strongest weekend all-round for a while as he almost made Q3 in a car that wasn't the strongest in the midfield. He then drove a strong race, running 11th early on and being firmly in contention for points until the clash with Sainz.
While Bearman was given a 10-second penalty for the incident in accordance with the guidelines, and in retrospect would have been wise to have backed out earlier, once legitimately contesting the braking zone he couldn't simply vanish.
He recovered to 12th, a fair result in a Haas, but that incident proved costly and could have been avoided, even if the penalty was only justified by the racing guidelines rather than racing reality.
Verdict: Strong weekend undone by Sainz clash.
Started: 9th Finished: 13th
Tsunoda didn't run the Red Bull floor upgrade, albeit describing the difference as "not massive".
He felt the underlying pace deficit to Verstappen was a couple of tenths of peak pace, but despite making it to Q3 (by 0.0017s ahead of Bearman) he ended up half-a-second slower than his team-mate thanks to finding himself without a tow - albeit without Verstappen benefitting from a powerful one either.
He ran ninth early on before being passed by Antonelli into Turn 1, then became only the third driver to pit on lap 19 with his pace controlled by that of Alonso ahead for much of the first stint. He had to pass early-stopper Lawson, who had undercut past, but that’s where his race turned as after passing him into Turn 1 he squeezed the counter-attacking Lawson approaching Turn 2. That left Lawson nowhere to go and gave Tsunoda damage "big enough to slow me down a lot".
From there, his pace was poor and he never looked like returning to the points.
Verdict: Self-inflicted damage undid patchy progress.
Started: 13th Finished: 11th
Like his team-mate, Sainz struggled badly with the Williams tyre warm-up and couldn't get the front end in sync with the rear, meaning there was always a poor balance on fresh softs. That led to him opting for used softs on his final Q2 run, which got him just ahead of Albon but not into Q3.
With Williams splitting strategy, Sainz ended up on mediums for the start and eventually let Albon through. While his strategy was the weaker one, meaning he had some work to do after pitting, he was destined for points until he attempted to pass Bearman on the outside of the second chicane. While the stewards penalised Bearman, which was right based on the overtaking guidelines, Sainz put himself at risk by turning in on the Haas, which couldn't simply disappear.
That turned a minor points finish into 11th for Sainz, with Hadjar getting ahead as he recovered.
Verdict: Fast but played part in his downfall.
Started: 16th Finished: 18th
Stroll wasn't at Alonso's level, missing out in qualifying by three tenths. Although he suggested that was perhaps a consequence of the lack of tow, the key time losses proved to be at the first chicane and Parabolica.
That meant he went for a long stint on hards, which was executed well enough, but ultimately led only to last place thanks to losing 13 seconds at his late pitstop when a fault meant the pitstop gantry lights held on red when he should have been released.
Verdict: Not at Alonso's level.
Started: 15th Finished: 15th
Ocon couldn't match Bearman's pace in qualifying, although he also referenced spotting in the data at 1.30am on Sunday something that made it "very clear what the problem was". Overall, he struggled with understeer, as is sometimes the case given his classical style compared to Bearman's.
But once in the race, after starting on hards, he showed good pace and stopped for mediums at the end of the penultimate lap - losing more time than he should have done thanks to a justified five-second penalty for forcing Stroll off track.
The strategy ultimately didn't gain him anything, but meant he was in position to benefit from a safety car or red flag if it came.
Verdict: Solid overall, but second-best Haas driver.
Started: 6th Finished: 9th
For the first time, Antonelli was publicly criticised by Toto Wolff for his Monza performance despite picking up a couple of points. It was a mixed bag, as putting it in the Lesmo 2 gravel in FP2 proved enormously costly.
While he was able to qualify well, half a tenth off Russell, the loss of the long runs on Friday and the resulting adjustment of the FP3 programme will have played a part in his race-pace struggle.
Getting a penalty for erratic driving for forcing Albon onto the grass turned eighth-on-the-road into ninth, and while this was far from Antonelli's worst weekend it was again a mixed bag of flashes of pace but patchy execution, and the practice off and the needless penalty in the race tank his ranking to one that is unusually harsh, but reflects the fact that it was a weekend where there were not many major mistakes.
Verdict: FP2 off and difficult race count against him.
