Edd answers your questions about his F1 Spanish GP driver rankings
Added 2025-06-04 09:45:26 +0000 UTCWhere would Max Verstappen have been without his red mist moment? Why was Nico Hulkenberg's ranking lower than his fifth-place finish in a Sauber? And why such a gulf between the McLarens that finished the race first and second?
As the second triple-header of the 2025 F1 season comes to an end, Edd Straw answers your questions about his Spanish GP driver rankings.
Comments
Great job Edd. Enjoyable as ever. Thanks for your thoughtful answer to my question
James Nicholson
2025-06-04 22:04:39 +0000 UTCInitially Edd did do driver ratings (I think 2020 and 2021, maybe 2022 as well?) - in fact, I seem to remember he scored them out of 100 rather than the usual 10. Can't quite remember the reason why he changed to rankings, but there was a fair bit of moaning (not from me I hasten to add) about his ratings too!
Stuart Coulter
2025-06-04 20:42:29 +0000 UTCHey Edd, thanks for these. I really enjoy the thoroughness with which you approach this inherently subjective process. Have you considered doing a driver rating instead? I think there’d be some advantages: 1) if everyone has a great weekend (or a poor one) you aren’t forced to disclaim ad infinitum and can focus instead on what individuals did to earn their score. 2) its easier to think about a mean rating across a season and have it be representative of the driver’s form in the abstract. With the compressed performance spread and the high aptitude of the modern grid trying to integrate rankings would produce a much noisier assessment of the same thing. If you think it has to be a ranking, well, far be it from me to tell you your business, but I’d love to hear why you feel that way. It’s fun to think how hard one might fight to sign driver X if X became a free agent and one were somehow in position to take such decisions. The noise in the rankings don’t as clearly answer that question in my opinion.
Xepha
2025-06-04 18:20:12 +0000 UTC
