Hamilton impresses: Briton handed perfect score for Barcelona magic

After a challenging first season with Ferrari, Hamilton has been in fine form in 2026. Following two second-place finishes behind Kimi Antonelli in Canada and Monaco, he went on to claim his first victory in Barcelona, 30 years after Michael Schumacher also won his first race for Ferrari at the same circuit.

Hamilton also impressed the F1 Power Rankings panel, who handed the British driver a 10 out of 10. They wrote: "After securing a pair of P2 finishes in Canada and Monaco, Hamilton finally fulfilled his ambition of winning a Grand Prix with Ferrari, and he did so in spectacular fashion. After sitting out FP1 while Dino Beganovic took his car, Hamilton took his time to build up the pace and set a blistering lap when it mattered in the final seconds of Q3. It was enough to get his first front row start with the Scuderia and from there, he flawlessly executed a bold three-stop strategy to beat Mercedes to victory – the perfect controlled drive which earned him a 10 from our judges."

Four drivers share second place on this occasion behind the Grand Prix winner. Lando Norris, George Russell, Kimi Antonelli and Pierre Gasly all scored an 8.3.

The panel added about the Mercedes teammates: "Mercedes didn’t quite get everything right in Barcelona, but George Russell largely got the smooth weekend he’s been longing for recently as he led FP1 and FP3 before taking his third pole position of 2026. While he may have lost ground to Hamilton by focusing on his defence against Antonelli, P2 came with a welcome points haul that keeps him firmly in the title fight.

Max Verstappen finished fourth after Antonelli's DNF, but the Red Bull Racing driver was never in contention for the podium. Laurent Mekies also expected a reality check in Barcelona and confirmed updates for his team ahead of the upcoming Austrian Grand Prix.

The panel handed Verstappen an 8.0 for his performance in Barcelona. "Red Bull’s tendency to be on the back foot on Friday and improve over the weekend happened again for Max Verstappen, who suffered with low grip throughout practice before surprising himself with a top-five spot in Qualifying. The Dutchman couldn’t keep up with Norris ahead of him and had a pretty lonely race, even though the team went with a similar gamble to Ferrari with a three-stop strategy. He inherited P4 after Antonelli retired, marking another round of maximising what he could in the RB22."

After the seventh race of the season, Antonelli still leads the overall F1 Power Rankings with a 9.1 season average. Hamilton sits in second place, having improved his rating to an 8.3 average. Verstappen is in fourth place with a 7.8 average, one position and one decimal ahead of Russell in P5.