Ask Edd Straw about his F1 driver rankings from Las Vegas!

Hi everyone - our experiment after Brazil with Edd taking questions here on Patreon about his driver rankings went so well, that we're going to do it again!

And this time we've included the full article of Edd's rankings below so if you haven't read it yet, you can work your way through it right here, and leave your comment or question below!

Edd will once again dive into your questions with an exclusive Patreon-only mini podcast later in the week.

Thanks again to everyone who has shown an interest in this!

Started: 1st Finished: 1st

The Mercedes was the car to have in Las Vegas and George Russell ruthlessly exploited that by taking pole position and winning in style.

You could ask whether team-mate Lewis Hamilton had the advantage on race pace and would have beaten him had he started up front, but Russell earned the chance to control the race by nailing qualifying and never letting that advantage slip.

Verdict: In the strongest car, but also faultless.

Started: 5th Finished: 5th

Once again, Max Verstappen extracted what he could from a limited package, with Red Bull's lack of bespoke low-downforce rear wing holding it back.

While he mixed it with the Ferraris, realistically he was always facing an uphill struggle to finish ahead of them.

Though he didn't clinch his fourth title with a big result, he nonetheless produced a strong drive.

Verdict: Worthy title-clinching display.

Started: 2nd Finished: 3rd

There were a few dicey moments during Carlos Sainz's weekend, notably when he was ordered to abort a pitstop at the last moment and in the fractious moments with Charles Leclerc.

But overall, this was a weekend where Sainz did marginally the better job than his team-mate and got the best possible race result. Ferrari's tyre troubles relative to Mercedes meant he couldn't have done better, although perhaps perfection on Friday night might have netted him pole. 

Verdict: Thrived in tricky circumstances.

Started: 4th Finished: 4th

This was always one of those weekends where the prevailing conditions were ones he would struggle with slightly more than his team-mate, but there was little to choose between the two of them.

The main difference was in qualifying where Leclerc's tyre prep for the key Q3 run went awry, leaving him light on grip.

He regrouped well after the alarming early drop-off in the race and ultimately had a very similar race to Sainz - although he was not happy with Sainz passing him after their final stops.

Verdict: Good but not his best work.

Started: 3rd Finished: DNF

The Alpine worked well in low-downforce trim and thanks to getting the tyres working and a precise lap, Pierre Gasly overachieved in qualifying with third.

He was in the hunt for a 'midfield victory', although had been jumped by Yuki Tsunoda at their first pitstops shortly before his power unit cried enough.

Verdict: Another strong weekend.

Started: 10th Finished: 2nd

Would Hamilton have won had he started on the front row?

He certainly believed so and given how strong his race was thanks to a combination of his own driving and the way the Mercedes treated its tyres, he'd certainly have made life far more difficult for Russell.

The trouble is, both Q3 laps got away from him and that's something he took responsibility for. 

Verdict: Q3 failure hurts his ranking despite strong race.

Started: 6th Finished: 6th

On paper, the results appear poor for the machinery. But this was McLaren's weakest weekend since the difficult spell early in the year before the Miami upgrade transformed its season.

Lando Norris outperformed Oscar Piastri and there was no sign that the car had the potential to do any better than qualify and finish sixth, especially given the difficulties containing the graining.

While that's something Norris himself struggles with on top of McLaren's trait for doing so, outperforming Piastri showed he was operating at a good level. 

Verdict: Didn't leave much on the table. 

Started: 9th Finished: 8th

Nico Hulkenberg seemed to have got a bit more into the rhythm again with the Haas after recent struggles.

He qualified well, although he left a little time on the table, but raced well to achieve the best possible result.

Verdict: A strong all-round weekend.

Started: 7th Finished: 9th

The weekend didn't start well given RB's practice struggles but Tsunoda made rapid progress and comfortably made it though to Q3.

He was disappointed to have fallen behind Hulkenberg on Saturday night, but all in all he executed the race well and banked some valuable points.  

Verdict: A good weekend's work.

Started: 7th Finished: 8th

The recent pattern continued, with Piastri being just off Norris's level. That was compounded by a small but costly error when he overshot his grid box, although the subsequent five-second penalty didn't make any real difference to his result - but while an easy mistake to make does hurt his ranking.

Like Norris, he was contained by the car so there wasn't a great deal more he could do. 

Verdict: Marginally the second-best McLaren driver.

Started: 16th Finished: 11th

Fernando Alonso's strong performance in the race, which came close to netting him a point, came after starting on softs and pitting on lap four.

Given it was Sergio Perez who finally bumped him down to 11th, it's hard to imagine he could have done much better - especially after his final qualifying lap was ruined by a yellow flag while he was a tenth-and-a-half up on what ultimately stood as his best.

Verdict: Did a good job in limited machinery.

Started: 13th Finished: 13th

After running the old-spec Sauber in FP1, the upgrade was bolted onto Zhou Guanyu's car for FP2 and he had a smooth weekend from there.

Zhou bagged his first Q2 place since the British GP in July, and only his third of the season, then raced well and would probably have finished a couple of places higher with optimum pitstop timing and execution - even if a first point of 2024 was just out of reach. 

Verdict: His best weekend in months.

Started: 17th Finished: DNF

Las Vegas was a microcosm of Alex Albon's season. He was quick but didn't get it together in Q1 thanks to traffic badly compromising his tyre prep on the second run.

He handled the race well and was in the hunt for a points finish when his power unit let him down.

Verdict: Quick but didn't come together.

Started: 18th Finished: 15th

While history suggests it's unlikely Lance Stroll could have matched Alonso, misfortune meant he didn't even have the chance to do so in Las Vegas.

An ERS failure at the end of FP3 meant he missed most of Q1, with only time to scramble out for a single lap that inevitably left him last.

He lost the radio in the race, leading to him losing 12 seconds at the first pitstop when he turned up unexpectedly, which meant there was no chance of a result.

Verdict: Unlucky throughout.

Started: 12th Finished: 12th

Unfortunately, Kevin Magnussen wasn't able to pick up where he left off after outstanding USA and Mexico weekends, lacking the edge of pace compared to Hulkenberg thanks to the unusual conditions.

He was the only driver to attempt a one-stop strategy, which he executed well but ultimately came at the expense of race time.

Verdict: Solid but slightly subdued.

Started: 11th Finished: 17th

Once again, Esteban Ocon's qualifying pace underwhelmed while his race speed was strong.

But for his first pitstop turning into a drive-through thanks to the crew not emerging - not his fault even though initially he feared he missed the signal board -he would likely have scored.

But Ocon is still uncomfortable with the Alpine at the limit as a result of what he believes, contrary to the team, is some undiagnosed car problem that's holding him back versus team-mate Gasly.

Verdict: Not at one with the car.

Started: 19th Finished: 18th

At times, Valtteri Bottas was eye-catchingly quick in practice but he couldn't escape Q1.

While that didn't make much difference to his starting position given he had a five-place grid penalty, he did give it a go but a 'messy' session - partly down to him and partly down to circumstances - cost him.

He didn't make much progress in the race, but wasn't on the ideal strategy.

Verdict: Quicker than the results suggest.

Started: 14th Finished: 16th

The puzzle of getting the maximum grip from the Pirellis in cold night-time conditions stymied Liam Lawson's one-lap pace relative to Tsunoda, which was unsurprising given his inexperience.

Even without a moment in Turn 14 that ruined his final qualifying lap, he was only destined for a small improvement before that and never looked like a Q3 threat.

Lawson also struggled with brake locking, which meant he spent the race deep in the midfield, ultimately finishing 16th.

Verdict: Inexperience showed. 

Started: 15th Finished: 10th

While Perez at least salvaged a point from the race, this was another troubled weekend in which his despondency only grew.

He had a new floor, replacing the cut-and-shut previous version that was close to the latest spec but not completely there, but he still struggled badly.

He did at least produce a moment for the highlights reel with his brilliantly bold double pass on Lawson and Magnussen.

Verdict: Looks irretrievably lost.

Started: Pitlane Finished: 14th

Franco Colapinto's weekend was again defined by one disastrous moment when he crashed heavily on his final Q2 lap.

Given Williams's circumstances, that was the one mistake that he couldn't afford to make, forcing the car to be rebuilt around the spare monocoque and ruining a weekend that was otherwise a good one considering his inexperience.

But for the shunt, he'd have been ranked well. 

Verdict: One bad misjudgement undid his weekend.