F1 Power Rankings: Sorry Seb, Lewis remains No. 1

June 19, 2019 admin

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has no qualms with Sebastian Vettel’s time penalty, after placing first despite crossing the line in second place at the Canadian Grand Prix. (0:23)

Ahead of each race in 2019, ESPN is ranking every driver on the grid in our Formula One Power Rankings.

In compiling these standings, we have taken out the car factor and focused solely on the drivers and how each has been performing. This is not a prediction for how the race will go this weekend. Nor is it a prediction for how things will look at the end of the season. Instead, read this as a gauge for who has the most influence over everything that lies ahead, who’s hot and who’s not ahead of the French Grand Prix.

Note: Teammate head-to-heads are compiled in qualifying sessions in which both drivers set a representative time and in races in which both drivers were classified as finishing.

You can throw up any number of statistics to justify Hamilton holding the top spot, but at the end of the day there’s really only one that matters — a dominant five wins from the past six races. Despite Valtteri Bottas’ impressive start to the year, Hamilton really has been the main man through the first third of 2019 and already holds a 29-point lead in the drivers’ championship. Honestly, it would almost be a shock if he didn’t win this weekend in France, a race he won last year when it returned to the calendar.

Expect the young Dutchman to be hungrier than usual this weekend after bad luck in qualifying cost him a chance to fight for a podium in Canada. Even with that disappointment in Montreal, Verstappen still managed to extend his top-five finish streak to a stunning 16 races in what is probably the fifth-quickest car on the grid. Oh, and don’t forget he finished second to Hamilton last time he was in France. Forget Bottas 2.0, how good is Verstappen 2.0!?

We’re either going to see the emergence of a despondent Vettel or an encouraged Vettel after he was cruelly denied victory last time out. My money’s on the encouraged version. You don’t become a four-time world champion without facing some adversity, and deep down he’ll know that he had his best weekend of the season in Montreal, and should take confidence from it. If he can move on quickly and put it all behind him, we might soon see him snap Mercedes’ nine-race winning streak.
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