As is often the case with Formula 1 sprint weekends, no driver strung together a truly complete run across all the relevant sessions - but this week's #1 came closest, and nailed the parts of the weekend that mattered most.
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: 3rd Finished: 1st
Piastri would have ended the weekend with a sprint/grand prix double but for the mistimed safety car that cost him on Saturday.
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He wasn't perfect, as he should have qualified better on both days and relied on Norris’s Turn 2 excursion to jump his team-mate in the grand prix, but what elevated his ranking was the intelligence with which he worked his way past Verstappen on Sunday.
Verdict: Strengthened his championship credentials.
Started: 7th Finished: 5th
Albon was unfortunate to lose an outstanding fourth place in the sprint to a safety-car delta infringement, but it was a fair cop even though the circumstances mean it doesn't dent his ranking as much as it would usually have done.
He followed that up with a good, but not perfect, qualifying performance with time lost in the chicane key to being outqualified by team-mate Carlos Sainz.
His Sunday was outstanding, beating the Ferraris and passing Antonelli along the way to take his second fifth place of the season - surviving a rub of wheels with Sainz on the first lap and opportunistically passing his team-mate again later in the first stint at a point when he wasn't expected to.
Verdict: Another well-executed weekend.
Started: 1st Finished: 4th
Verstappen's pole position was another example of maxmising the second-best car and capitalising on the McLaren drivers slightly underdelivering.
The sprint blank after finishing fourth on the road was not of his doing given Red Bull's unsafe release, while in the grand prix he was never going to be able to hang on to the lead ahead of the McLarens.
Would have been third but for the timing of the VSC that let Russell jump him, with the only mild criticism a few moments in battle where he flirted with putting himself in harm's way.
Verdict: Papered over the Red Bull cracks.
Started: 2nd Finished: 2nd
Fortune was on Norris's side in the sprint with the timing of the safety car turning second into first. He certainly had the pace to have won the grand prix from pole position, but his failure to maximise qualifying meant he ended up taking the risk around the outside of Verstappen in Turn 2 that led to him being forced onto the runoff.
From fifth, he recovered well to second, passing Verstappen along the way, but Piastri was out of reach thanks to the time lost battling the Red Bull.
Verdict: Excellent pace, imperfect execution.
Started: 3rd Finished: 6th
Prior to Miami, Antonelli's rookie campaign had been impressive but without ever startling with his speed. He corrected that with a sensational sprint pole position, backed up by a close third in qualifying proper.
The races didn't go quite as well, Antonelli learning a big lesson at the start of the sprint when he tried to hang on around the outside of Piastri and fell back before being hit by Verstappen in the pits, although the timing of the safety car and tyre-management inexperience cost him in the grand prix.
Verdict: A significant weekend in his rookie campaign.
Started: 9th Finished: 12th
Ocon was the stronger Haas driver in Miami, although he wasn't able to translate that into a points finish.
His sprint chances were compromised by a lock-up on his final qualifying lap, but he excelled by making Q3 for the main event. After slipping behind Tsunoda at the start, he defied competitive gravity in the first stint by hanging onto 10th ahead of Hamilton until lap 22.
Hadjar's undercut relegated him to 12th in a car that didn't quite have the pace to fight back.
Verdict: A strong weekend, but the car wasn't at its best.
Started: 5th Finished: 3rd
Russell wasn't at his best in Miami, admitting after qualifying that he lacked confidence with things "not clicking". But he stuck to his task and was rewarded with race results that were ultimately as good as they were going to get for Mercedes.
That this counts as a difficult weekend for him performance-wise is testament to the quality of his season so far, although he was a step behind Antonelli on qualifying pace.
Verdict: Made the best of it.
Started: 13th Finished: DNF
A lock-up at Turn 17 on his final SQ1 lap, having brushed the wall on his first, doomed Bortoleto to an unobtrusive sprint. But come qualifying proper, he breezed into Q2 and potentially had the pace to make the top 10 but for failing to improve on his final lap, which started to go awry when he had a big snap in Turn 2.
He had a good race until an engine problem eliminated him, coming close to passing Hadjar in the first stint.
Verdict: His best weekend so far.
Started: 11th Finished: 11th
The Racing Bulls car vied with the Haas for sixth-best in Miami, and Hadjar accordingly spent much of his weekend floating around the periphery of the points.
His sprint qualifying ninth place was the standout moment.
He rued missing out on denying the penalised Tsunoda the final point on Sunday by 0.168s, having lost just over a quarter of a second to him on the final lap.
Verdict: Another decent weekend.
Started: 12th Finished: 8th
This was a step forward from Bahrain and Jeddah, although Hamilton still wasn't quite at the level of his team-mate.
A well-timed switch to slicks in the sprint allowed him to take third place, while in the race the VSC and an opportunistic pass on Sainz left him behind Leclerc on a softer tyre.
When Ferrari eventually waved him past Leclerc, he couldn't close on Antonelli, so Hamilton dropped back behind late on.
Verdict: A small step forward.
Started: 18th Finished: 16th
Stroll's fifth place in the sprint owed much to a well-timed switch to slicks, but it was one that he pushed for. He also produced a superb first racing lap to climb from 15th to 11th, having been denied a place in SQ2 by having to go round Verstappen approaching Turn 17.
Come the main event, he was a step behind Alonso although finished close to him in the race in what proved to be the slowest car.
Verdict: Good opportunism in the sprint.
Started: 19th Finished: DNF
This was one of those weekends where Bearman struggled to string everything together as effectively as his team-mate, although in the moments he did the pace was good. That allowed him to, temporarily, take a point in the sprint before a penalty for an unsafe release that was not of his making.
A messy main qualifying followed, so from the back row he was destined for a finish outside the points anyway before an engine failure eliminated him.
Verdict: A patchy weekend.
Started: 16th Finished: 14th
Hulkenberg had good pace, but he didn't always deploy it when he needed it. His sprint qualifying performance was impressive, although undone by a poor first lap.
He should at least have made Q2 in qualifying proper, but for an error at the start of the lap that proved, in his words, "suboptimal".
He drove a decent race, but Sauber's puzzling decision not to take the free gift of a VSC pitstop after starting on hards compromised that.
Verdict: Didn't string it all together.
Started: 20th (pits) Finished: 13th
Miami proved to be a weak track for Alpine, although Gasly grabbed a fortuitous point in the sprint after four cars ahead were penalised - a reward for keeping it clean.
He wasn't happy with the car in qualifying, meaning he was eliminated in Q1 while team-mate Doohan advanced. He started from the pitlane after suspension set-up changes and drove a decent race in a doomed cause.
Verdict: Not at his best, but neither was the Alpine.
Started: 14th Finished: DNF
This weekend was a microcosm of Doohan's season. The underlying pace was good, outqualifying Gasly fair and square, but there were also some errors.
While he attributed not getting a second lap in SQ1 to the release of his team-mate, he was ultimately responsible for the pushback required to avoid clipping the pitwall that cost him key places in the queue.
He also put himself in a risky position at Turn 1 on Sunday, resulting in the collision with Lawson - although bad luck also played a part in his fate.
Verdict: A frustrating, ultimately poor, mixed bag.
Started: 17th Finished: 15th
Alonso starred in the sprint element of the weekend, putting the Aston Martin where it had no business to be in qualifying before being eliminated by the Lawson clash while on course for his first points of the season - something that could have been avoided had his push to take slicks earlier been heeded.
That form was impossible to repeat in qualifying proper as rivals extracted more of their potential, but he blotted his copybook in the grand prix with an early spin, albeit one that didn't impact what was always going to be a lowly result.
Verdict: Unrewarded sprint heroics the highlight.
Started: 10th Finished: 10th
Even when you consider the fact he didn't have Red Bull's minor floor upgrade, Tsunoda's pace was disappointing.
He was unfortunate to be eliminated in SQ1 after not getting a final lap in, but was the first to switch to slicks and bagged sixth in the sprint after four cars were penalised.
He was puzzled after producing what he felt was his best lap of the weekend in Q3 - as it was one that barely improved on his Q2 time.
He ran ninth in the first stint, slipping to 10th thanks to Hamilton getting a cheap pitstop under the VSC, staying just far enough clear of Hadjar to hold the position when the five-second pitlane speeding penalty he carelessly acquired was applied.
Verdict: Not close enough to Verstappen's pace.
Started: 8th Finished: 7th
Leclerc was dissatisfied with Ferrari both in terms of the pace of its car and the way it managed team orders in the grand prix, but ultimately got pretty much everything he could out of the package.
That would normally mean a high ranking, but while he was a passenger once he aquaplaned on a lap to the grid for the sprint, crashing in such circumstances even in terrible conditions has to cost him heavily.
Verdict: Sprint disaster tanks his ranking.
Started: 6th Finished: 9th
The sprint component of the weekend was a disaster for Sainz, with a lock-up on his final SQ2 lap leaving him down the grid, then a bad misjudgement in the chicane while chasing Stroll costing him points.
The main event went much better, Sainz qualifying well but losing ground at the start when Norris rejoined in front of him, rubbing wheels with Albon and picking up floor damage.
The VSC timing meant he fell into the clutches of the Ferraris, with both jumping him at the restart - a late lunge on Hamilton at the final corner not enough to allow him to reclaim a place.
Verdict: Rapid, unlucky, but sprint error was costly.
Started: 15th Finished: DNF
Lawson's underlying pace was fine, but this was one of those weekends where things just didn't come together.
Sprint qualifying would have been better but for a small mistake, with a points finish lost for causing the collision with Alonso.
A sensor problem cost him power at the end of his Q1 lap, leading to his elimination, with sidepod damage sustained in the collision with Doohan at Turn 1 meaning his race was an exercise in battling on hoping for a miracle before he eventually retired his hobbled car.
Verdict: Didn't really come together.
