2017 F1 Race Rankings

Season Stats:

Driver’s Championship leader: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes – Championship confirmed!!
Constructor’s Championship leader: Mercedes – Championship confirmed!!
The Pineapple King: Lance Stroll (3) !!
Last Place King: Marcus Ericsson & Pascal Wehrlein (5) – joint award!!
Most retirements: Singapore Grand Prix (8)

Race Rankings:

Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Daniel Ricciardo took a surprise victory in a safety car filled race which was also red-flagged due to excessive debris. McLaren finally scored points, both championship candidates were dropped from the front of the back, Valtteri Bottas took a 2nd place podium by the slimmest of all margins and Lance Stroll achieved the first podium of his career.
Singapore Grand Prix – Lewis Hamilton took another easy victory after the Ferraris crashed each other (and Max Verstappen) out of the race on the first lap. Three safety cars, a season high for retirements and several surprising drivers making it to points.
Canadian Grand Prix – Lewis Hamilton drove to an unchallenged victory, but Vettel and the Force Indias gave a good show at the finale. Overtake battles, crashes, safety cars and internal radio strife. Lance Stroll also scored his first points in F1.
Chinese Grand Prix – Easily the best race so far, even if Lewis Hamilton lead from start to finish. Alonso fought another pyrrhic victory and Perez rammed Stoll off the circuit. Generally some good mayhem (and rain) contributed to a good race.
Bahrain Grand Prix – Sebastian Vettel claimed victory after starting from behind Valtteri Bottas (who was 3rd due to a terrible pit stop and team orders). After sitting out on the first two races, Pascal Wehrlein was Best of the Rest and Lance Stroll was rammed out of the race for the second time in a row by another driver (this time Sainz). An okay race.
Spanish Grand Prix – In the first five races, the least amount of technical retirements. Lewis Hamilton fought his way back to victory after getting passed at the start. Wehrlein brought Sauber its first points (beating McLaren to the punch) there were also plenty of run-ins. From the three-way collision between Bottas, Räikkönen and Verstappen to the ex-team mate bash of Alonso and Massa.
Mexican Grand Prix – Max Verstappen took his second victory of the season when both of the championship contenders were forced to pit on the first lap. A double-Finn podium and plenty of technical problems and cars catching fire. Despite his efforts, Vettel was only 4th by the end confirming Lewis Hamilton’s 4th championship.
Monaco Grand Prix – Whereas Mercedes make their team-orders painfully obvious, Ferrari does at least a better job of hiding them, if indeed this was the case with Sebastian Vettel overtaking pole-man Räikkönen during a pit stop. Overtaking was difficult on the Monaco track, with only Lewis Hamilton improving. A dramatic collision between Pascal Wehrlein and the formerly/formally retired Jenson Button. Perez also totalled Kvyat’s car. Beyond that, quite an uneventful race.
Belgian Grand Prix – Lewis Hamilton took an easy victory at Spa. The Force Indias caused a commotion and a safety car and we saw many promising results fall by the way side. The middle of the race was quite exciting, the rest of it not so much.
US Grand Prix – With Sebastian Vettel overtaking the Mercedes front-man at the start, the race looked promising, but Lewis Hamilton proved yet again too fast to catch. Max Verstappen drove valiantly from the back of the back to the top-5 only to be denied a podium by a driving error during his very last overtake which bumped Kimi Räikkönen for a Ferrari double-podium. Carlos Sainz also impressed with his first Renault race, switching teams for the last few races of the season.
Austrian Grand Prix – Valtteri Bottas took his second victory with ease. Not much else happened after Daniil Kvyat’s disastrous crash with Fernando Alonso which took out Alonso and Max Verstappen.
Russian Grand Prix – The Finnish double podium with Valtteri Bottas as the leader is pretty much the only thing separating this and the Australian rounds in terms of excitement. Grosjean bumped into Palmer and in delicious irony got taken out by Palmer’s runaway car as well. But that’s about it.
Japanese Grand Prix – Despite there being no rain on the Suzuka track, several drivers went wide and slid off the circuit resulting in real and virtual safety car situations. Lewis Hamilton took another easy victory.
Malaysian Grand Prix – Max Verstappen got to climb onto the tallest podium in (for the moment) final Malaysian Grand Prix. Some genuine racing at the front of the pack for a change and a few close shaves but nothing ground shatteringly interesting. Räikkönen couldn’t even start the race and Vettel’s car was totalled post-race by Stroll.
British Grand Prix – Lewis Hamilton took another easy victory. Both Finns were on the podium despite Ferrari’s bad luck with tyre punctures. Beyond that, nothing else of real interest happened. The Toro Rossos bumped into each other causing a safety car session.
Hungarian Grand Prix – Sebastian Vettel took the victory in a race dominated by Ferrari. Apart from Hamilton giving Bottas his position back at the end of the race, the race was quite uneventful. Several drivers performed embarrassing mistakes on track.
Brazilian Grand Prix – After the first lap’s madness, the Brazilian GP was anothe boring race in a season full of boring races. Sebastian Vettel won with two Finns on the podium as Hamilton had to start from the pitlane, having trashed his car in the qualifying.
Australian Grand Prix – Although it was refreshing to see Sebastian Vettel as the winner in the season opening race, there was little in the sense of actual racing action. This race set the bar high for retirements. However, as all these retirements were due to technical problems, they didn’t really do wonders for race-excitement.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Valtteri Bottas won the final and least significant race of the season.
Italian Grand Prix – Interesting start line-up, dull race. Lewis Hamilton won.

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