POWER RANKINGS: Who dazzled our judges at the Dutch Grand Prix?

Max Verstappen won his home race in Zandvoort, but there were no perfect 10s from the Netherlands from our judges. Here’s how the scores were tallied up from Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix…

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 then used to produce a Power Rankings leaderboard, which has been expanded below

Verstappen recovered from a gearbox issue in FP1 to take pole position by the slimmest of margins, and thereafter seemed to have the run of Zandvoort – until Mercedes’ one-stop strategy threatened to put a thorn in his side. But the Dutchman capitalised on a Virtual Safety Car and the following Safety Car, mastering the restart, to take his second home victory and the fastest lap to boot.

READ MORE: ‘We probably have to try quite hard to lose it’ says Horner as Red Bull eye both titles for first time since 2013

Russell’s Q3 effort was cut short by Sergio Perez’s spin and that left the Mercedes driver sixth on the grid. On race day, after a brief duel with Norris, Russell caught up with Perez and seemed to be cruising towards a podium thanks to the team’s one-stop gambit. The late VSC and Safety Car put a pin in that, but Russell pushed to pit for a set of softs and that gained him a second-place finish, continuing his run of top five finishes.

READ MORE: Russell says Mercedes would have fought for win without VSC after second place finish at Dutch GP

After encountering traffic on Saturday afternoon Alonso qualified 13th behind team mate Esteban Ocon, but the two-time champion made swift work of clearing the midfield and finished a brilliant sixth on Sunday. An early stop for hard tyres and then a swap for new soft compounds saw him make gains in a rapid Alpine at Zandvoort. Alonso was promoted to P6 at the flag as Sainz copped a five-second penalty for an unsafe release from his pit box.

READ MORE: ‘Aggressive early stop’ key to Alonso’s rise from P13 on the grid to sixth as Alpine extend advantage over McLaren

Hamilton qualified fourth after that aforementioned spin from Perez in qualifying, and the resultant yellow flags, but the seven-time champion kept his head up and kept pace with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz early in the race. Hamilton even led a few laps while keeping those hard tyres working in the hope of executing a one-stop strategy, but the late VSC and Safety Car curtailed his hopes of a podium, or even victory, as he fell back from the lead to P4 at the flag.

READ MORE: ‘I’d rather take the risk to win’ says Wolff as he defends Mercedes’ Safety Car strategy in Zandvoort

Norris qualified seventh, comfortably clear of the rest of the midfield, and briefly challenged Russell at the start of the race. However the McLaren driver couldn’t hang on and switched from mediums to hards for his second stint. A swap to used soft tyres during the VSC and Safety Car saw him fall behind Alonso at the finish, where he ended up taking P7 after Sainz’s post-race penalty.

READ MORE: Norris disappointed to finish in P7 behind Alonso – but praises McLaren’s performance at Dutch GP

Leclerc might have taken pole if he hadn’t made a mistake in Q3 but the Monegasque soldiered on, and after pitting it seemed that he was set for a P4 finish given Mercedes’ pace on the hard compounds. But the final Safety Car issued him a reprieve, and Leclerc shot to third place at the expense of Hamilton.

READ MORE: Leclerc says title ‘looking difficult’ after Dutch GP defeat to Verstappen

Ocon out-qualified traffic-affected team mate Alonso on Saturday but was only rewarded with 12th on the grid. However, the Frenchman shot into the top 10 at the start and then looked assured for points, just not as many as Alonso having swapped for hard tyres later than his team mate. Ocon couldn’t make gains in the late Safety Car restart as he lost time defending P9 – where he finished – against Stroll.

READ MORE: 6 Winners and 5 Losers from the Dutch Grand Prix – Who impressed at Zandvoort?

Stroll made it to Q3 but a power unit problem prevented him from taking on Schumacher and Norris ahead. The Aston Martin driver held off Ocon early on but ended up losing out after switching from softs to mediums, then changing to hards a few laps later. By then, the Alpine driver was ahead, and despite a late-race battle after the Safety Car pulled in, Stroll had to settle for the final point.

READ MORE: Stroll rues ‘unlucky’ Safety Car timing as he says season-best P7 was possible in Zandvoort

Gasly qualified 11th and finished there on a difficult Sunday for AlphaTauri. The Frenchman found himself battling with team mate Tsunoda early on and seemed destined to finish behind him, before Tsunoda’s retirement. Pitting for softs for the final restart, Gasly missed out on the points and held off Albon for P11.

F1 NATION: Home joy for Max, pit wall pressure and driver moves – it’s our Dutch GP review

Albon finished 12th for Williams at Zandvoort as he attempted a medium-medium-hard strategy that was swiftly changed by the late caution periods. He couldn’t pass Gasly towards the end of the race but the Thai driver ended up with a net gain having qualified 15th.

READ MORE: Zandvoort proved Williams can now compete on different style circuits, says Albon

Missing out

Zhou Guanyu was the driver to miss out this week, the Alfa Romeo driver having forgone hard tyres to finish 16th on Sunday.

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