Press Release

Power Rankings - MRC Saudi Arabian GP

26.06.2023 - With the second race done, let’s analyse the Grand Prix again. Like last time, feel free to comment down below and hit the like button if you enjoyed this. So without further ado, let’s begin!

1. Gregory Moore - In my preview for the GP, I was definitely too harsh and underestimated the Canadian racer. Yes, he was unable to overcome teammate Luka Jerman in Bahrain, but he trounced the field in Jeddah, finishing 11.533 seconds ahead of the driver in P2, Corinne de Saint-Germain. The only word here to describe his race is ‘impeccable’. A few mistakes here and there were not detrimental at all as he cruised to a comfortable victory. Another great weekend as he establishes himself as a title contender, and leads the championship.
Rating : 9.8/10

2. Alex Cooper - The McLaren duo again had a terrible qualifying, with the Briton only 10th on the grid. A fantastic and gutsy fightback, though, saw the former world champion rise to P5 by the chequered flag. Cooper made some errors, but none important as he battled his way to 5th. Best of the rest, and he shows that he’s still able to compete at the top level.
Rating : 9.3/10

3. Tony Hoffman II - The Lotus driver has out-performed the car so much I personally think he’s world champion material should he get the right car. Indeed, P7 does not seem like much, but the other Lotus of Pedro Dallara didn’t even score points! Furthermore, that qualifying lap in Q3 was nothing short of sensational, securing him 4th on the grid, which was a massive reason for his P7. Will he be able to secure a seat for a top team to push for podiums, wins or even the championship? He certainly deserves it and if these performances continue, rumours will definitely fly around…
Rating : 9.0/19

4. Tadej Ozbolt - The other McLaren was determined too. It seems that wherever his more experienced teammate goes, Ozbolt is able to somehow keep up with him, despite being 6 years younger than Cooper. One of the youngest drivers on the F1 grid, Ozbolt impressed yet again, securing P6 and valuable points for the Woking outfit. Not many mistakes, like Cooper, but 6 minor ones on the last 5 laps may have cost him a shot at the Top 5. Still a fantastic Grand Prix, though, seeing the Slovenian qualified in a lowly P12.
Rating : 8.6/10

=5. Jimmy Doucet - Having watched F1 in MRC last season and this season, I kept on noticing how Doucet was struggling and finishing P7 or P8 whilst teammate Asen was getting podiums and challenging for wins. I thought firstly that maybe the Ferrari wasn’t so good and Asen, being the brilliant driver that he is, was out-driving the car as he would. But today, when I finally decided to check Jimmy Doucet’s driver profile, I was surprised to see that he is only 29. To put that into context, Vali Asen is 34 years old and still got our-qualified by Doucet. His racecraft isn’t bad either, I mean, there is only so much you can do when the drivers around you are all more experienced. But P8 is still a good result for the Canadian, and I can comfortably say that he has a very bright future ahead. He did make some unforced mistakes, though, which drops his rating for the race weekend. Still a decent Grand Prix.
Rating : 8.5/10

=5. Vali Asen - I spent the last paragraph talking about Jimmy Doucet’s talent, but that doesn’t mean Asen is not good either. In fact, it is completely opposite. Asen is one of the best drivers I have seen, and is my second-favourite driver on the grid. He showed his race prowess again, taking P4 ahead of the two McLarens, which honestly, feel like a much better car than the Ferrari. If you look at his lap-by-lap, you will see he made one slightly-big mistake on Lap 49 whilst on hard tyres that were going and that was it. A few minor ones don’t matter and P4 is fantastic, following on from the podium finish in Bahrain. You never know, maybe Ferrari can turn their fortunes around and challenge Porsche and Red Bull…
Rating : 8.5/10

7. Dmitri Pironi - I watched MRC F1 in Season 50 as well, in fact (I joined on Day 33, Season 50) and Alpine were fantastic. The next season, they were unexpectedly mediocre so I thought that was just a blip. This season proves me wrong, and they are very disappointing. But Pironi finished P10. P10 in a car that is fighting Sennas and Aston Martins. In some regards, he had a better race than most, making no noticeable mistakes at all throughout the 50 laps. It was another fabulous race from Pironi, and he is slowly becoming the driver who I respected so much again.
Rating : 8.1/10

8. Iuri Carneiro - Not much to say really. The Portuguese had a calm but solid race. He had a couple of major mistakes but he’s a rookie, give him some slack! Even better, he beat teammate Mauricio Cruz on merit by 3 places, which is a massive achievement. Aston Martin are a team that is often overlooked, but I think they deserve this a lot.
Rating : 7.8/10

9. Sixtosz Xalonna - Not the best beginning to the weekend. That’s why he’s 9th. If he qualified better, he would be somewhere in the Top 5 of my rankings with a much, much higher rating right now. But let’s face it : 29th in a TOYOTA is disappointing (I say this, but I would probably qualify last every time if I was in his situation) for most. But the race was different. The valiant Greek climbed 12 places to P17, and whilst it yielded no points once again, he can take heart from a solid performance.
Rating : 7.6/10

10. Braedyn Blake - If I ask anybody to list the 4 worst cars on the grid, the chances are that I am gonna get : Pegaso, WRT Spyker, Ford and Chevrolet (maybe Mercedes but they have improved a lot). I have been monitoring all their progress, and it is with great surprise that I found a Chevy in the Top 20. That’s incredible, by the way, for a backmarker team like Chevy. Blake made up an astonishing three positions in the last 5 laps, which is very impressive, and I feel I overlooked his efforts last time out, so here it is. A few mistakes were costly though.
Rating : 7.2/10

Just Missing Out
It’s fair to say that Jordan have produced yet another lacklustre car this season. Pankrac Zatacka and Lance Riley have certainly struggled to get the most out of it. Zatacka finished P20, behind a Chevy, but he is a rookie, so he gets some slack. Lance Riley, though, has been so impressive this season. P14, in the midfield is a great result from Jordan and they’ll feel they are on track to achieve better results.
Rating : 6.7/10

My thoughts
Non-F1 thoughts up first, and I was surprised this morning when I saw 51 (FIFTY-ONE) coins in my bank. I thought somebody had actually bought my terrible Mercedes livery because of my persuasion (the only good thing about it is that it has a customisable driver number). I went to the transaction log and saw ‘PRESS RELEASE WINNER’. So, a big thank you to all of you guys and maybe we can do this again this fortnight! If you enjoy it, like it so I can make more of them and not be restricted to 1 every 20 days :). Now for the F1 stuff. I actually think that this race weekend was a bit duller compared to last, with my highlight personally being the battle for P3 and P4 combined with watching Xalonna’s comeback drive and Blake’s final laps of the Grand Prix. One thing that I noted was Wozipiwo’s crushing DNF. He was P8 in the Red Bull (not a good place to be in for someone of such skill) before spinning out on the last lap. This is getting a bit worrying now, and he will certainly be under pressure going into Australia, so look out for that…