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POWER RANKINGS: Two drivers are tied at the top as the scores come in from the Italian Grand Prix

06 September 2023

It was a crackerjack of an Italian Grand Prix weekend at Monza, as while Max Verstappen made history, Ferrari also impressed in front of the tifosi. But who impressed our judges the most this weekend? To find out, check out the scores 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)

Fred Vasseur called the Italian Grand Prix weekend Ferrari’s best of the season, and from a personal perspective, Carlos Sainz might say it was his best weekend as well. The Spaniard was in scintillating form from the minute the lights went green in FP1.

But the most impressive part of his weekend was the outstanding lap to take pole, as while he could not keep the Red Bulls behind on Sunday with his incredible defensive skills, many will remember the roar of the tifosi when the Spaniard crossed the line.

A record 10 wins in a row is an insane achievement and praise must be given to Verstappen. Red Bull have built a great car and Verstappen continues to put it to good use by not putting a foot wrong, and this weekend was the perfect example of that.

He narrowly lost out on pole position to Sainz, but as he has done so often on a Sunday, he put it all together on race day to take the win. He bided his time before pouncing on Sainz’s mistake to take the lead, and once he did there was no looking back on his way to another commanding victory.

It was another outstanding weekend for Albon and Williams, with the Thai racer once again showing off his speed, extracting the maximum performance out of his FW45 as well as later demonstrating his splendid defensive abilities to finish seventh.

Once again, the minute Williams put their car on the ground they and Albon looked quick, so much so he was a little disappointed to qualify sixth. But a huge shift on Sunday, which saw him hold off Lando Norris in the final stint, netted him P7, as he continues to mix it at the sharp end of the field.

Any concerns regarding Russell’s form have eased since we returned from the summer break, as the Mercedes driver seems to have found the level of performance that caused so many to quickly earmark him as a future world champion.

Lost in the madness of Saturday is that Russell qualified fourth in a car that was third fastest at best this weekend. And while he had hopes of getting a podium, his admirable yet lonely drive to fifth was the maximum he and Mercedes could have hoped for on Sunday.

It is now back-to-back second place finishes for Perez, whose confidence will slowly be creeping back up after his post-summer break performances. But his weekend was yet again not without its difficult moments as he crashed into the barrier in FP2.

He would not have been happy to qualify fifth, but he did what he and his team would have hoped for on Sunday. That is overtake Russell and the two Ferraris to give Red Bull another one-two finish, thus giving the Mexican another trip to the rostrum.

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Speaking post-race, Lawson was a little disappointed to finish 11th, which meant he missed out on points in the process. But for a driver who admits he is “still playing catch up” that is far from a bad result and one that instead should make him proud.

He qualified 12th, just under two-tenths off the pace of his experienced team mate Yuki Tsunoda in 11th. Unfortunately, he just did not have enough pace to get points, finishing six seconds back of Valtteri Bottas in 10th. Perhaps not the result he wanted, but still a commendable drive.

He admitted that a wrong set-up direction put him on the back foot heading into qualifying. But after moving over to the set-up being used by Sainz, we began to see the level of performance we have come to expect from Leclerc, as he qualified third.

He did his best to make progress during the race, but Ferrari just did not have pace to match Red Bull. He then had a brilliant battle with Sainz for third, a contest that earned him top marks for entertainment alone. However, he could not make his way past and had to settle for a well-earned fourth.

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McLaren just did not have the performance to make a push at the top end of the field, as they struggled for pace, especially in the straights. Norris though was his usual rapid self as he looked to make the most out of the Monza weekend.

He wound up eighth after being unable to get past the slippery Williams of Albon. But, with Singapore just around the corner, Norris’s showing will be a source of comfort to McLaren that if they have the car to compete, he will get the most out of it.

It was a first top-10 finish for Bottas since Montreal, as the Finn used his strong tactics, which saw him start on the hard tyre before making the switch to the mediums, to finish 10th.

At a track where Alfa Romeo did not expect to be at their strongest, Bottas made it into Q2, before qualifying 14th, extracting the maximum from his C43 to score a much needed point for his team.

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It was not Hamilton’s cleanest nor strongest weekend, but he still showed mighty speed when it was needed. He mentioned that the car went away from him after FP1, and it showed as he could only qualify eighth on Saturday.

He, like Bottas, made the decision to start on the hards, and it worked, as he recovered to finish sixth. The one blemish against his name this weekend was his collision with Oscar Piastri, but he accepted responsibility for his part in the incident.

Missing out

Narrowly missing out on a place in this week’s top 10 by the barest of margins is Piastri. The rookie had a fine weekend, out-qualifying Norris before making a good start from seventh to go up to sixth ahead of Albon.

Unfortunately, he just did not have the pace to maintain the advantage over both, as he dropped down the order before his hopes of points ended after his collision with Hamilton.