F1 content creator, podcaster, analyst and freelance journalist Edd Straw recently revealed his F1 driver rankings for The Race, based on the performance in the 2024 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, which was held last weekend at the 7.004-kilometre Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
Each Grand Prix weekend, the 20 drivers are ranked based on their performance, from best to worst. This ranking made by The Race journalists always considers various criteria, including pace, racecraft, consistency, and avoidance of key mistakes. A crucial factor is how close each driver comes to maximizing the performance potential of their car.
This ranking reflects performance over the entire Grand Prix weekend, recognizing that qualifying is essentially ‘lap 0’ of the race and vital for setting up the race strategy. It’s important to clarify that this ranking is not an assessment of the drivers’ overall abilities but strictly about their performance during that specific weekend. Consequently, the rankings will likely vary significantly from one race to the next.
Given that each of the 10 cars has different performance capabilities and that external factors (such as luck or incidents beyond the driver’s control) can influence the outcome, these rankings will often differ from the official race results.
For the Belgian Grand Prix, Edd Straw has ranked Charles Leclerc on top, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Explaining his decision, the analyst and freelance journalist pointed out that Charles Leclerc “capitalised on the conditions in qualifying to the produce second-fastest time and therefore grab pole position (once Max Verstappen’s grid penalty had been applied) in a Ferrari that really wasn’t at that level even in the rain. Despite the Ferrari being fourth-fastest of the cars in the lead group, Leclerc ensured he minimised his race time losses to finish ahead of three cars he shouldn’t have done.” – Edd Straw wrote in his report.
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