POWER RANKINGS: Hamilton and Verstappen miss out on the top 10 as the scores come in from Singapore

A drama-filled Singapore Grand Prix saw both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton go off track in chase of the podium, though neither managed to make the top three come the chequered flag – and neither made the top 10 in this week’s Power Rankings either…

How it works

• Our five-judge panel assess each driver after every Grand Prix and score them out of 10 according to their performance across the weekend – taking machinery out of the equation

• Our experts’ scores are then averaged out and the mean of those scores are used to produce a Power Rankings leaderboard, which has been expanded below

Sergio Perez barely put a foot wrong in his defence of the lead against Charles Leclerc, with the Mexican driver mastering seriously tough conditions for what he and his team boss Christian Horner consider to be his best career win. Qualifying wasn’t perfect for Perez, however, as he ended up second on the grid to Leclerc – and he copped a five-second post race penalty for that Safety Car infringement.

READ MORE: Horner hails ‘world class’ Perez but says Verstappen was carrying a ‘big wound’ in Singapore

Norris may have been fortunate, taking advantage of the Yuki Tsunoda-triggered Safety Car for a free pit stop to finish fourth behind Sainz, but the McLaren driver put himself in position to capitalise having been solid all weekend. He qualified sixth behind Alonso in his McLaren while team mate Ricciardo managed 17th, and Norris’s drive to P4 was error free.

READ MORE: How Russell’s Singapore gamble ended up helping everyone except himself

Pole-sitter Leclerc garnered mixed scores from the judges as, while he aced qualifying, the Ferrari driver copped copious wheelspin off the line and couldn’t catch Perez in the race. The Monegasque driver’s late lock-up in chase of the Red Bull saw him drop out of DRS range and finish 7.5s off the lead, which meant that Perez retained his victory despite a post-race penalty of five seconds.

READ MORE: Leclerc says his start ‘wasn’t good enough’ as pole-sitter forced to settle for P2 at Singapore GP

Stroll out-qualified his team mate Vettel and then capitalised on errors for Verstappen and Hamilton to pull off a coup for Aston Martin and finish sixth on the road, further cementing his reputation as something of a wet-weather specialist…

READ MORE: ‘Things just went our way’ – Aston Martin drivers thrilled with biggest points haul of 2022 in Singapore

Alonso’s Lap 20 retirement stopped him from scoring what would have been some very useful points for Alpine, who fell behind high-flying McLaren in the constructors’ championship at Marina Bay. Their two-time champion qualified a brilliant fifth behind his compatriot Sainz and seemed sure for at least P6 by the chequered flag, before his engine gave way. While it wasn’t his fault, Alonso’s DNF curtailed his Power Rankings scores as our judges ultimately couldn’t see what the Spaniard was able to do on Sunday.

READ MORE: Alonso says he’s ‘minus 60 points’ in the championship after double DNF for Alpine in Singapore

Ricciardo may have finished a stunning fifth on Sunday, but the judges took into account the Australian’s poor qualifying show that saw him take 17th on the grid. That’s not to say that the McLaren driver didn’t execute the race well; he navigated the midfield and then made his own luck with a Safety Car pit stop to take his best finish of the season.

READ MORE: ‘We needed this’ says Ricciardo after finishing fifth behind McLaren team mate Norris in Singapore

Gasly perhaps went under the radar in Singapore amid drivers who had more dramatic races at the Lion City. The AlphaTauri racer qualified P7 in a car that hasn’t been up to par with the rest of the midfield in 2022, and he was running seventh for much of the race before an early (Lap 33) stop for slicks cost him and eventually dropped him down to 10th at the flag, behind the McLaren and Aston Martin drivers.

FACTS AND STATS: Perez first man in over a decade to do Monaco-Singapore double

Vettel’s qualifying performance wasn’t great, as the five-time Singapore Grand Prix winner ended up 13th on the grid to team mate Stroll’s P11. But it put him in the hunt for points, and Vettel managed to jump five cars with a stunning start on the slippery surface. Pitting on Lap 34, Vettel emerged seventh after the Safety Car restart and retained that position when Hamilton went off in chase of him late on – but Verstappen proved too tough to hold off and Vettel ended up eighth by the flag.

ONBOARD: Vettel gains five places in brilliant start to 2022 Singapore Grand Prix

Sainz didn’t let the fact that he qualified fourth, behind Hamilton’s Mercedes, put him off at the start; the Spaniard simply moved the seven-time champion aside at Turn 1 and then continued in third-place for the rest of the race. He admitted that he wasn’t totally at ease on the tough conditions in Singapore, and played it safe to deliver Ferrari a much-needed double podium finish under the lights with P3 to team mate Leclerc’s P2.

READ MORE: Sainz says lack of ‘confidence’ on slippery Singapore streets saw him slip back from lead battle

Magnussen’s ninth-place qualification impressed our judges with the Haas driver making it to Q3 on Saturday, and he was unfortunate to pick up wing damage on the opening lap of the race on Sunday – damage that ultimately forced him to pit early on and then finish 12th at the chequered flag on a day where both he and team mate Mick Schumacher seemed in with a chance of points.

HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action from the Singapore Grand Prix as Perez fends off Leclerc for victory

Missing out

Verstappen missed out in Singapore, the Dutchman having gone off the track in chase of Norris before recovering to P7 – having settled for P8 in qualifying after an unfortunate fuelling issue. But the championship leader still heads the Power Rankings leaderboard…

Leaderboard