Max Verstappen - Red Bull

Championship position: 1st

Rating: 9.5/10

Superlatives to describe the way that Verstappen is driving this season are running out. The Dutchman has found a level that only very few have touched before to reel off eight successive wins going into the summer break.

Verstappen's brilliance was particularly evident as he secured five successive pole positions that all came in qualifying sessions that his team-mate Sergio Perez failed to make it through to Q3 in.

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His dominance over Perez - and the rest of the field - has usually been even more apparent on Sundays, with a growing maturity enabling him to calmly assess what is required in the opening stages of a race, and then ruthlessly deliver it.

Why not 10/10? Verstappen has, at times struggled with his starts, something that could be more of an issue in a less dominant car.

Sergio Perez - Red Bull

Championship position: 2nd

Rating: 5.5/10

While Perez is undoubtedly in a tough position, being judged alongside Verstappen, the Mexican has endured a torrid run that has left his future with the team anything but secure.

Having made a brilliant start to the season by winning two of the first four races and declaring himself ready to take on Verstappen for the title, Perez has almost completely capitulated.

His run of five successive qualifying sessions without making it into the final part of qualifying in the fastest car on the grid was quite remarkable and resulted in just one podium during that streak.

There was an improvement in Belgium as he qualified and finished second, but the ease with which he was dominated by Verstappen once more has left F1 fans - and perhaps Red Bull - crying out for someone able to challenge the Dutchman more regularly in the sport's dominant car.

Fernando Alonso - Aston Martin

Championship position: 3rd

Rating: 8.5/10

While the early-season wonderment for Alonso has worn off a little with Aston Martin falling off the pace in the weeks before the summer break, the Spaniard's brilliant return to the business end of the grid should not be underestimated.

Alonso drove beautifully to secure six podiums from the opening eight races as Aston Martin's speed took the paddock by surprise, with the Spaniard turning back the clock in some thrilling battles with old foe Lewis Hamilton.

Aston Martin appear to be losing the development race against Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren in the battle to be the best of the rest behind Red Bull, but Alonso continues to dominate team-mate Lance Stroll, who he has finished behind in a Grand Prix on just one occasion this season.

Having turned 42 in July, Alonso has shown enough to suggest that he could be in the sport for a while yet, during which time just about every follower of the sport will be hoping to see him claim an elusive 33rd race win.

Lance Stroll - Aston Martin

Championship position: 9th

Rating: 5/10

Having accrued a huge amount of good will by completing a remarkable recovery from a pre-season cycling accident to take sixth at the opening race in Bahrain and then fourth in Australia, it has been largely downhill for Stroll.

He has finished above ninth on just two occasions since then and went on a streak of being knocked out before Q3 five times in seven races.

While his father Lawrence continues to own the team his seat will remain secure, but for a team that is trying to join the battle for titles, he is doing nowhere near enough to prove he belongs at that level.

Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

Championship position: 4th

Rating: 8/10

After a pretty miserable 2022 campaign, the seven-time world champion appears to have gotten just about as much as anyone could out of Mercedes' W14.

Since major changes were made to the troublesome car in Monaco, Hamilton has just once finished outside the top four, taking three podiums in that time to close to within a point of the third-placed Alonso in the drivers' standings.

The high-point of his season - a brilliant pole lap in Hungary - was followed by a disappointing opening few corners to the race that cost him another podium, but much like Alonso, Hamilton has shown there is plenty left in the tank.

George Russell - Mercedes

Championship position: 6th

Rating: 6.5/10

It speaks volumes about Russell to say that one of Hamilton's biggest achievements has been turning around last season's formbook to clearly outperform his team-mate.

Since an engine failure ruined what had been a hugely impressive weekend in Australia, Russell has struggled to maintain the near faultless form of his debut Mercedes campaign.

His only podium of the season came in Spain, while 'Mr Saturday' has uncharacteristically struggled in qualifying, being knocked out before Q3 on four separate occasions.

While there remains little doubt that Russell is capable of driving a winning car to victory, he will be looking to regain consistency during the remainder of the season.

Charles Leclerc - Ferrari

Championship position: 5th

Rating: 6.5/10

Having spent the first half of 2022 in a title battle with Verstappen, 2023 has been a case of back to reality for Leclerc.

Ferrari's hugely inconsistent SF23 has failed to give him the opportunity, with the combination of occasional driver error and more regular team strategy blunder not helping his cause.

Leclerc offered a reminder of his spectacular speed by claiming a second pole position of the season in Belgium, and backed it up with a solid drive to take just a third podium of the campaign for Ferrari.

It's been tricky to judge Leclerc on this campaign, and that might be of concern for Ferrari, with the driver potentially seeking a new opportunity to better display his considerable talent when his contract expires at the end of next season.

Carlos Sainz - Ferrari

Championship position: 7th

Rating: 6.5/10

It has been a similarly frustrating season for Sainz, who has also failed to build on a promising 2022 campaign.

The Spaniard has been solid, qualifying in the top five in 10 out of 12 races, but has often been unable to maintain that level of performance on a Sunday.

Some of that has been down to bad luck and high levels of degradation on the Ferrari, but the regularity with which Sainz has appeared to be slower than Leclerc on race day will be of concern to him.

While there is little doubt Ferrari would like to extend Leclerc's contract, it's not completely clear how strong the team's desire is to hold onto Sainz beyond the end of 2024, when his contract is also up.

Lando Norris - McLaren

Championship position: 8th

Rating: 8.5/10

Verstappen aside, Norris was the clear star of the final month of the season before the summer break.

A disastrous start to the season for McLaren meant most conversations about Norris had been about where the 23-year-old Brit would take his talents next, and how soon he might be able to get out of his long-term deal with the team.

However, sweeping upgrades brought to the MCL60 in Austria turned everything around, with Norris taking fourth before claiming successive second-place finishes in Britain and Hungary.

Those performances, of which the highlight was perhaps his defence against Hamilton at Silverstone, offered a reminder as to why Norris is the first name that comes up amid any talk of a vacancy at the front of the grid.

Oscar Piastri - McLaren

Championship position: 11th

Rating: 8/10

Given the strong benchmark of Norris, Piastri is putting together a mightily impressive debut campaign in F1.

The Australian rookie would have claimed a first F1 podium at Silverstone if it were not for the unfortunate timing of a Safety Car, and produced another strong drive to take fifth in Hungary.

What he did in Belgium before the summer break was even more impressive, beating Norris in both Sprint and traditional qualifying, before taking second behind Verstappen in the shorter race.

An unfortunate first-corner incident in the race ended his opportunity to make further progress, but will only provide valuable experience for a driver who is set to be in the sport for a long time.

Esteban Ocon - Alpine

Championship position: 10th

Rating: 7/10

Ocon has shown flashes of great speed and drove beautifully in Monaco to take his first podium since winning the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.

F1 is filled with young talent right now, so it's easy to overlook Ocon who has been performing well considering the weaknesses of the Alpine car this year.

The Frenchman has also suffered a lot of misfortune including at the Australian, British and Hungarian Grand Prix, where collisions or reliability saw him miss out on points.

Pierre Gasly - Alpine

Championship position: 12th

Rating: 6.5/10

Gasly's first season at Alpine has been quiet, with nothing spectacular but it's not exactly like he's a long way off Ocon either.

Surprisingly, it has not been too feisty between the Alpine pair and it's difficult to judge if both drivers are maximising the potential of the car.

Alex Albon - Williams

Championship position: 13th

Rating: 7.5/10

Albon continues to impress at Williams and has produced some great drives to give Williams three points finishes in 2023.

He's got on top of the low-drag nature of the car by hanging on in the corners and adjusting his driving style to keep a pack of cars behind. His seventh place in Canada was a fine example of that, plus eighth at the British Grand Prix.

Unlike his 18 months at Red Bull across 2019 and 2020, Albon is a driver full of confidence and is clearly the lead driver at Williams.

Logan Sargeant - Williams

Championship position: 19th

Rating: 5/10

Sargeant is the only driver yet to outqualify their team-mate so far and has made a few crucial mistakes too such as incidents in Azerbaijan, Miami and Spain.

It's a contrast to the high Albon is on and it's very difficult for a rookie to turn things around. Yuki Tsunoda is a fine example of that in his debut season in 2021.

You have got to think Sargeant must beat Albon a few times on merit to ensure he keeps his place on next year's grid.

Nico Hulkenberg - Haas

Championship position: 14th

Rating: 7.5/10

Hulkenberg has quietly impressed at Haas, particularly in qualifying where he has put together some stunning laps to get into Q3.

In Canada, he qualified second in wet conditions, only receive a three-grid place penalty for a red flag infringement. Nevertheless, it was a mighty lap from 'The Hulk'.

His seventh place in Australia is the only points finish he has had, mainly due to Haas' struggles with tyre degradation on heavy fuel.

Kevin Magnussen - Haas

Championship position: 18th

Rating: 5.5/10

Magnussen has been outpaced by Hulkenberg throughout, with little to shout about. We saw a little bit of Magnussen's excellent race craft when he fought Leclerc brilliantly at the Miami Grand Prix, where he eventually finished 10th.

There has not been enough of that though and whether that's more down to him or the car is not clear - perhaps both.

Valtteri Bottas - Alfa Romeo

Championship position: 15th

Rating: 5.5/10

Alfa Romeo have had a quiet 2023 so far, struggling with race pace and Bottas certainly does not hold the same advantage he had over Zhou last year.

There was promise from Bottas when he finished eighth at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, but he's rarely been on the front foot in the fierce midfield battle.

It's somewhat reminiscent of Kimi Raikkonen during his stint at Alfa Romeo between 2019 and 2021, when the Finn lost that natural speed over one lap to pull something special out of the bag.

Zhou Guanyu - Alfa Romeo

Championship position: 16th

Rating: 6/10

The results will not show that Zhou has improved on his rookie campaign from last season and matching Bottas is what he needs to keep his place at Alfa Romeo for 2024.

One element missing from the Chinese driver was a big moment, but he changed that in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, where he put his car into fifth place. However, it all went wrong 24 hours later when he had a terrible start and hit the back of Daniel Ricciardo going into Turn One.

Zhou needs to avoid errors like that in the final 10 rounds and may soon feel the pressure of driving for his F1 career in a car that is proving difficult to score points in.

Yuki Tsunoda - AlphaTauri

Championship position: 17th

Rating: 7/10

Tsunoda is finally delivering on the promise he showed in his junior career, with some great performances to take 10th on three occasions this year.

He completely dominated Nyck de Vries and did not seem thrown off by the arrival of Daniel Ricciardo at the team in Hungary and Belgium.

Scoring points in a poor AlphaTauri is impressive and we will know exactly how good Tsunoda's season has been if he can match or beat Ricciardo regularly.

Nyck de Vries - AlphaTauri

Championship position: 20th

Rating: 4.5/10

Even if you think Red Bull were harsh to drop De Vries, the Dutchman was too far off the pace and made too many mistakes.

De Vries' age, 28, meant there was more pressure on him to perform straight away because he has so much experience in other forms of motorsport.

A good spell in May, where he outqualified Tsunoda in Miami and Spain, which was followed by a strong 12th in Monaco, felt like the start of an upward trend for De Vries. However, the next three events were disappointing and he was soon out of F1 after the British Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo - Alpha Tauri

Championship position: 21st

Rating: 6.5/10

It's very difficult to properly judge Ricciardo on just two races. Hungary was excellent as he outqualified Tsunoda and had good pace to finish 13th.

But, a mistake in qualifying for track limits in Belgium saw him start on the back row and he was unable to match Tsunoda in the race.

Formula 1 returns after the summer break with the Dutch GP and all sessions will be live on Sky Sports F1 on August 25-27. Stream Sky Sports F1 and more with NOW