POWER RANKINGS: Which drivers impressed our judges with some brilliant driving in Belgium?
Mercedes pulled off a surprise one-two result at the Belgian Grand Prix, with George Russell leading home team mate Lewis Hamilton before being disqualified for an underweight car.
But in addition to the Silver Arrows pair, who impressed our judges around the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit? Scroll down to check out the latest Power Rankings leaderboard…
Hamilton did everything right in the early stages of the race as he promptly cleared Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc to go from third to first, only for Russell to then work his way to the front on an alternative one-stop plan. Despite his best efforts to fight back, the seven-time world champion could not quite reclaim the lead and had to settle for P2 until his team mate got disqualified. Our judges, though, liked what they saw from start to finish.
Russell was the only one of the front-running drivers to opt for a different strategy by pitting just once, as opposed to twice. He steadily moved up the order from sixth on the grid as his rivals pitted and, as the crucial mid-point of the race arrived, stayed out and committed to the one-stop. It was an inspired move that marginally paid off, having crossed the line with Hamilton and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on his tail, but the celebrations took a “heartbreaking” turn with that aforementioned DSQ.
Fresh from his maiden F1 victory in Hungary, Piastri arrived at Spa-Francorchamps full of confidence and looking to add some more silverware to a growing trophy cabinet. While it was not quite another win, second place behind Hamilton – after Russell’s disqualification – represented a fine reward for the Australian, who had the measure of team mate Lando Norris throughout the race.
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