F1 Power Rankings: Can Lando Norris Challenge Kimi Antonelli After Upgrades in Baku?

Formula One heads to Baku this weekend after Kimi Antonelli made it two wins in two with victory in Madrid. Our power rankings measure who will arrive in Azerbaijan in the best shape, taking into account recent form, raw speed, how much each driver extracts from their car, momentum, and how well their strengths might suit the street circuit.

The 6km track in Baku has one of the longest flat-out sections of the season, but also some of its tightest corners around the old city. Boasting F1’s longest full-throttle section, the 6km track will show how these new cars fare. Lewis Hamilton backs F1 season to finish in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

After Monza and Madrid, here are our top 10 rankings and predictions for the race in Baku:

10. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
Form: Monza P5; Madrid P8. Championship: P7
Piastri continues to slide down our rankings. He’s been consistently outqualified by teammate Lando Norris and had a torrid time in Madrid. A mistake in Q3 saw him qualify in P7, and a first-lap contact with Russell then damaged his front wing and cost him downforce for the rest of the race. Piastri only managed a P8 finish in a car capable of winning the race. The Australian noted that when it came to Baku, he has had a love-hate relationship with the circuit.

9. Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)
Form: Monza P8; Madrid P9. Championship: P11
Lindblad has now managed 10 Q3 appearances in 14 races and he continues to score points in his rookie season. Finishing P8 in Monza and P9 in Madrid, the 19-year-old British driver has now scored points at nine of the past 10 race weekends.

8. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
Form: Monza P14; Madrid P6. Championship: P9
Lawson signed off his Red Bull stint with his strongest result during the few weeks he occupied the seat after Isack Hadjar suffered a wrist injury. Monza proved frustrating as he served an engine penalty, but he qualified eighth in Madrid and finished P6. Team principal Laurent Mekies described the Kiwi's three-race spell as “very strong”.

7. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
Form: Monza P9; Madrid P7. Championship: P12
“It's probably my best race weekend in terms of execution this year, I maximised everything in qualifying and did what I had to do today,” said Colapinto of last weekend at Madrid. In Monza, he started seventh, powered his way to fourth, but was unlucky as he lost the rear of his car at Turn 5, still ending up in ninth. In Madrid, the Argentine qualified five places ahead of Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly and finished seventh.

6. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
Form: Monza DNF; Madrid P4. Championship: P5
Leclerc needed a better race after his costly Monza crash and was forced to go without the latest ADUO 2 power unit in qualifying in Madrid. He qualified P5 and Ferrari stretched his opening stint hoping for a safety car. Once he finally stopped, he recovered to fourth and kept Russell behind in the closing laps.

5. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
Form: Monza P6; Madrid DNF. Championship: P3
The results hide some of Hamilton’s recent speed, and he’s admitted he hopes he and the team can “hold on to second” in the constructors’ championship. He recovered to sixth after a difficult start at Monza, then looked genuinely quick in Madrid before a brake problem forced him out after six laps.

4. George Russell (Mercedes)
Form: Monza P2; Madrid P5. Championship: P2
In what can only be described as the strongest car on the grid, Russell has underdelivered and Madrid was perhaps his weakest weekend in quite some time. The gap to the championship lead is now 81 points. Baku has always been a lucky circuit for him, where he has finished on the podium three times in the last four years.

3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
Form: Monza P3; Madrid P2. Championship: P6
Verstappen continues to extract more from the Red Bull. He secured third at Monza and followed it up with another excellent performance in Madrid, taking second after the virtual safety car swung the race in his favour. He now heads to Baku with back-to-back podiums.

2. Lando Norris (McLaren)
Form: Monza P4; Madrid P3. Championship: P4
Even Antonelli felt Norris should have won in Madrid. Not only did Norris produce what he called one of the finest qualifying laps of his career, he beat Antonelli to pole. A slow pit stop during a VSC dropped him down, but he fought back to finish third.

1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
Form: Monza P1; Madrid P1. Championship: P1
Antonelli followed his momentous Monza comeback with another win in Madrid and now leads the championship by 81 points. Eight victories from 14 races make his place at the top difficult to challenge.

Baku podium prediction:
1. Kimi Antonelli
2. Lando Norris
3. Max Verstappen