Max Verstappen on the decline as driver makes a fool of himself – F1 power rankings

The Monaco Grand Prix was anything but an advert for F1 to keep racing around the legendary circuit. It once again passed by without note, aside from a chaotic first lap caused in part by oversized cars navigating the tightest track.

It will be remembered fondly by Charles Leclerc, but not by anyone who watched him finally win on home turf. But Express Sport will be picking the limited meat off the bones all the same.

Here we take a look at our power rankings, taking into account each drivers' efforts in Monte Carlo and how that impacts their standings from over the course of the season.

1. Charles Leclerc

Leclerc proved his credentials as Verstappen’s closest title challenger as he ended his curse in style, coming out on top in all but one session.

While it ended up being plain sailing for the hometown hero after the first lap chaos and restart, he showed the reliability that has so far been lacking from his career to date.

2. Max Verstappen

The championship leader had a weekend to forget. While the track doesn’t lend itself to the Red Bull’s strengths, Verstappen was uncharacteristically sloppy with his clip of the barrier in qualifying.

He blamed the red flag for their gameplan going out of the window, but Russell got the better of him in the tussle for P5. He won’t have many weekends like it this year but for now, he’s down to second.

3. Lando Norris

It was a head down and crack on kind of weekend for Norris, who couldn’t extend his run of podiums to four but should be happy all the same with a solid showing.

The only slight disappointment for him will be getting out-qualified by his team-mate. But with less than a tenth in it, he can be content with the shift he put in.

4. Carlos Sainz

It was a fortunate return to the podium for Sainz, whose race was saved by the red flag after getting a puncture in contact with Piastri. He could also count himself fortunate to have avoided a penalty for impeding Alex Albon.

Nevertheless, he showed the required pace and kept a firm grip on third place throughout, playing the role of a good team-mate in the process. That’s likely what he’ll be restricted to for the rest of the season ahead of his exit.

5. Oscar Piastri

The Aussie continues to come into his own in his second F1 season. It was small margins in qualifying but every little helps.

Challenging Sainz perhaps wasn’t the wisest move, and shows there’s always going to be things to learn for him. Pushing Norris is exactly what McLaren will be asking of him.

6. Yuki Tsunoda

Tsunoda’s driving like a man who’s well aware Sergio Perez is yet to put pen to paper on a contract extension. He claimed his fifth points finish in eight races so far.

Eighth this time out, he’s making team-mate Daniel Ricciardo look a bit silly in the other RB, as hard as that is to admit. It’s all looking up for the Japanese star at the moment.

7. George Russell

It hasn’t been the case enough for Russell this season, but he’s now converting qualifying into points in the improving Mercedes. Questions have been raised about favouritism in the team after he was handed their sole front-wing upgrade.

His tyre management was totally spot on though and if there’s any doubts about him stepping up as the lead driver in Hamilton’s absence, he’s doing a good job of vanquishing them.

8. Sergio Perez

Not the response Perez would’ve hoping for after Imola. Qualifying went awfully from his perspective - scrap the excuses of traffic and tyres, it wasn’t good enough.

Red Bull now have a repair bill of up to £2million thanks to his scary crash with Magnussen. Harsh maybe to put any blame on Perez, but it was avoidable.

9. Lewis Hamilton

It’s threatening to turn into a rather sorry end for the seven-time world champion at Mercedes, who he seems to be growing increasingly frustrated with. Unfortunately, it was always the likely outcome.

He could have perhaps improved on his seventh-place finish had the call been made for him to push on his out lap for an undercut on Verstappen. You can understand the annoyance.

10. Fernando Alonso

Form is temporary, class is permanent. It’s just that the form is way off the boil currently for Alonso, who’s stuck in the middle of the pack until Aston Martin can find something to improve their car.

11. Nico Hulkenberg

A tough break for Hulkenberg. Dropped to the back of the grid for Haas’ illegal rear wing after qualifying 12th and then taken out by his team-mate on lap one. The sooner he’s heading to Sauber the better as far as he’s concerned.

12. Pierre Gasly

What can you do when your team-mate keeps crashing into you? Plough on to finish 10th for your first point of the season was an excellent answer from Gasly.

His qualifying showing was mightily impressive too. With a better Alpine under him there could be more of that to come.

13. Alex Albon

We got a flash of the Albon of last season and it was good to see. He set himself up for success with his showing on Saturday. It's commendable he got into Q3.

And his safe pair of hands were on show for what ended up being a routine first points finish of the year for him. Work to be done still but heading in the right direction.

14. Esteban Ocon

That’s very much not the case for Ocon, who’s making it incredibly hard to back his corner - and a potential benching next time out in Canada seems fair at this point.

It wouldn’t be so bad if he hadn’t been warned against the exact sort of stunt he pulled at Portier, earning himself a five-place grid penalty. He needs to find his head and fast.

15. Zhou Guanyu

It can’t really get much worse for Sauber currently but it certainly wasn’t going to get any better in Monaco. Zhou was outperformed by his team-mate this time out.

16. Daniel Ricciardo

Still playing second fiddle to Tsunoda at this stage. He was one of many stuck behind Alonso, which could only have been avoided by a better qualifying.

17. Lance Stroll

Run out of slack to cut for Stroll. His team-mate held up his end of the bargain yet he threw away 11th place with a poor puncture. How many chances?

18. Valtteri Bottas

Encouraging may be a stretch but it was better for Bottas at the weekend. He kept up his perfect qualifying record vs Zhou, and pulled off one of the few race overtakes. Nowhere near where he’d want to be still.

19. Logan Sargeant

F1’s a brutal environment. There’s no room for second best. And that’s what Sargeant is at Williams, whose decision to let him go is being made easier by the week.

He was second last of the finishers in Monaco. It’s not going to be a particularly fun six months for the American, but he should relish those moments while he can.

20. Kevin Magnussen

As Jose Mourinho once said, if I speak, I am in big trouble. You’d think by now Magnussen would have a bit more sense than to make that move up Beau Rivage. Imola was one step forward, this was two back.