WHO HAS STOLEN A MARCH AT THE HALFWAY STAGE?

Eleven races down, 12 to go. Formula 1 takes its annual summer holidays which gives us the opportunity to consider which drivers are top of the class and which of those are wearing a dunce’s hat. As term time comes to an end, we grade all 20 drivers and reflect on their efforts and failures for the first half of the season.

Up front it’s a close fight between the two title protagonists: Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

Behind them there are other notable battles that are worth highlighting.

We also identify which drivers need to improve for the second half of the season, that gets underway with the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of August. In points order as the summer shutdown commences, here’s MN’s half-term school report for the grid…

1 MERCEDES 303 POINTS

At the start of the summer break, Mercedes has just pipped Red Bull to reclaim the championship top spot for both the team and its star pupil Lewis Hamilton. In the biggest threat to its dominance in the hybrid era, Mercedes has been resilient to the pressure so far – thanks mainly to its British talisman.