Grapevine: Rankings: Hamilton, Rosberg move up

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are the major movers in the higher echelons of the Castrol EDGE Rankings this week after the Spanish Grand Prix.

Hamilton's dogged chase of Sebastian Vettel to take second place at the Circuit de Catalunya has promoted the Englishman from fifth to third in the Rankings, above rally hero Sebastien Loeb and Ferrari F1 ace Fernando Alonso.

Meanwhile, Rosberg took seventh place in Spain and as a result he moves up three positions to 19th, ahead of IndyCar ace Helio Castroneves and NASCAR stars Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart.

Race winner Vettel has made another significant increase in his Castrol EDGE Rankings lead, with Mark Webber, second in the Rankings, finishing only fourth at the Barcelona track. With Webber dropping his race win from last year under the Rankings' 12-month rollover system, that has opened up a chasm to Red Bull team-mate Vettel, who into the bargain extends his advantage in the EDGE Race for 2011.

Meanwhile, a typical Kamui Kobayashi charge into the top 10 means that Sauber's Japanese star leapfrogs F1 rivals Adrian Sutil and Rubens Barrichello plus the injured Robert Kubica to move up into 39th.

Also on track at the Barcelona track were the GP2 and GP3 series. Incredibly, the two race winners were the same as they were at this venue last year. Charles Pic moves up 10 places comfortably into the top 100 in 95th, while Fabio Leimer strides up 38 positions to 158th.

It was not such good news for Ferrari protege Jules Bianchi, whose eventful weekend drops him nine places to 78th, or Bianchi's Lotus ART team-mate Esteban Gutierrez - the reigning GP3 champion has had a difficult induction to GP2, and is down a further nine places to 97th this week.

In GP3 it was the rookies on form at Barcelona. New Zealander Mitch Evans won the first race and is up 154 places to 406th, despite simultaneously discarding an Australian F3 score from last year. Meanwhile, Hungarian Tamas Pal Kiss, new to the Rankings this year as a graduate of Formula Renault UK, won the second race and moves up 619 places to 872nd.

Down in the Southern Hemisphere, Australian V8 Supercar dominator Jamie Whincup did no harm to his championship prospects with a win and a second at Winton, and also rose nine places to number 68 in the Castrol EDGE Rankings, keeping himself well ahead of his V8 peers in the table.

To see the full Castrol Rankings and the latest positions in the Race for 2011, please visit www.castroldriverrankings.com.