Here are the fresh F1 driver rankings after the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix.
The rankings are based on currently expected performance levels. They are not an accumulation of grades, not solely based on previous performances, nor based on a driver’s potential deep into the future.
We simply try to determine: Who is the best right now?
1. Max Verstappen
Still the best racing driver in the world. He’s had a tough start to the year, mainly due to an uncompetitive car – but he still shows outstanding race pace and finally reached the podium in Canada. His qualifying performance in Monaco was something extraordinary as well. It’s time to move to another team, though. Max should try to get Russell’s seat at Mercedes.
2. Charles Leclerc
One of F1’s most exciting drivers. He’s an incredible qualifier and he also excels at starts, wheel-to-wheel battles, and racecraft. Mistakes are a bit too frequent, but that’s a natural consequence of driving at the very edge. I don’t think Leclerc should change his style, because reducing those occasional errors would also reduce his insane pace. Hamilton leads the Ferrari battle so far, but it’s only a matter of time before Leclerc gets on top again.
3. Lando Norris
He’s one of the world’s fastest drivers based on pure speed, especially when there are no other obstacles. It’s also a good sign that he is actively working on his weaknesses: His starts are no longer an issue, and he can drive with a calmer state of mind now that he is already a champion. Norris had a quiet start to the year but finally had a breakthrough performance in Miami – and he looked faster than Piastri in Canada. In Monaco, the car simply wasn’t strong enough to compete.
4. Oscar Piastri
Piastri took a huge step forward in 2025. This year, we’ve seen him perform very well (in Japan) and horribly (in Canada). The matchup against Norris should be close all year. Right now Norris seems to be in better form, but it’s close between the two papaya drivers.
5. Carlos Sainz
The more I think about it, Sainz is probably the only driver who’s been flawless this season. He deserves to drive for a better team but foolishly decided not to sign with Audi for 2025 and beyond. Hopefully, he can continue to perform at a high level and eventually find a better seat.
6. Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton is no longer at his peak – but still a pretty good racer when the opportunity presents itself. He already has three podiums this year so the new car definitely suits him better. He seems motivated again, so hopefully he can pick up a win at some point. I do however think Leclerc will be the better Ferrari driver over the entire year.
7. Kimi Antonelli
Antonelli is overrated at the moment. He had elite performances in Miami and Monaco, but he’s been lucky in other races. It seems like Mercedes are updating the car to Kimi’s preferences and not Russell’s. The scary thing is that Kimi is only 19, so he will continue to improve. Now he has to maintain the championship lead, stay cool, and avoid a Piastri-2025-style meltdown.
8. George Russell
Mr. Saturday has been underwhelming so far. Despite having a dominant car at his disposal, Russell’s performances have been fairly weak. Of course, he had technical issues in China, Japan and Canada, so that complicates things. But Miami was just flat out disappointing, and Monaco was somehow worse. It seems like the bad streak is really getting to his mind. Russell needs to shake it off and do everything possible to understand the car.
9. Alex Albon
Albon has proven to be nearly as good as Sainz. Not in terms of one-lap pace, which is still Albon’s main weakness – but he performs very well over a full race distance. Just like Oscar Piastri, Albon needs to be more consistent: He must avoid a drop in performance by the end of the year. He’s been a bit unlucky to start the season, and the car is not doing him any favours either. At the same time, Sainz has been incredible, so Albon hasn’t really been noticed. He finally had a bit of a breakthrough in the Monaco qualifying session where he beat Sainz.
10. Oliver Bearman
Bearman continues to show amazing progress. He has huge potential and is already out-performing Ocon at just 20 years old. Bearman looked really good by the end of 2025. He seems like a top 10 driver already, or thereabouts. The interesting question is how much further he can progress. Young drivers tend to improve a lot in their first 3-4 seasons, but Haas isn’t a great environment, so hopefully Ferrari will promote Bearman as soon as possible.
11. Pierre Gasly
An excellent qualifier who lacks some racepace. A less exciting version of Jarno Trulli. By the end of last year, we finally saw flashes of his talent again – mainly at Interlagos. He’s obviously a solid driver, and if the motivation is there, he can compete at the upper midfield. We saw this happening at Suzuka where he kept Verstappen at bay for over half the race to secure sixth – one of the best performances by any driver in 2026. Sadly, he lost a Monaco podium due to an irrelevant penalty.
12. Fernando Alonso
Still one of the most exciting racers to watch. He is great at both overtaking and defending. It’s so unfortunate that Aston Martin cannot even compete in the midfield. He’s strolling around as a backmarker due to the disappointing car, and that’s no worthy way of finishing his career. It may not be clear due to having a weak teammate, but Alonso’s pace is slowly deteriorating which is natural because of his age (turning 45 in July). He says he wants to continue, but eventually his decline will get exposed.
13. Nico Hülkenberg
The Hulk has not only revived his career over the last three seasons; he has also made some major adjustments to his driving style. Previously known as an excellent qualifier, he now values race setups more. A small decline is expected due to his age, and perhaps later in the year, he will drop behind Bortoleto. For now, he still looks slightly better in race trim than his teammate, though it’s hard to judge in the inconsistent Audi.
14. Gabriel Bortoleto
Bortoleto showed great racecraft and aggressiveness in the junior series. In F1, his drives have been fairly anonymous. Despite performing well against Hülkenberg in head-to-head stats, Bortoleto did not show any major upside in his rookie year. Bearman, Antonelli and Hadjar all had their big moments – the Brazilian did not. Perhaps it could change this year: Drivers usually improve in their second season (and even more in their third) but he still seems a bit behind Hülkenberg.
15. Isack Hadjar
Hadjar had a solid, albeit overrated, rookie campaign. He was promoted to Red Bull a bit prematurely, but the good news is that Red Bull have a brand new car philosophy this year, plus a better environment, so Hadjar may not struggle like the previous Red Bull second-drivers. He had a strong weekend in Canada, and then scored a podium in Monaco – but he’s still way off Verstappen’s pace.
16. Sergio Pérez
He didn’t get a fair chance at Red Bull by the end of his stint there. A return for Cadillac could work out for him. Pérez actually thrives in backmarker cars and can occasionally deliver some unexpected results due to his tyre management skills. Based on his performances this year, he seems much more motivated than Bottas, and is quite a bit ahead of his teammates in most sessions.
17. Esteban Ocon
Esteban Ocon has very little upside at this point in his career. He is awful at setups and cannot lead a team, hence why he always performs at a level slightly below his teammates. When the car is good, he can score some points due to a decent natural instinct. Based on early 2026 data, it looks like Bearman is pulling away faster than expected which does not bode well for Ocon’s future. Haas should start looking at other options, because Ocon seems to be getting worse – losing to a young driver like Bearman will not do his mind any good.
18. Arvid Lindblad
He performed a bit worse than expected in F2, but F2 results don’t mean much anymore: There’s simply too much variance. Lindblad is projected to be slightly slower than Hadjar was in his rookie year, mainly due to his young age (18) and having less experience going into F1. However, Lindblad has massive upside and could be a top 5 driver by 2030. So far, he’s had a great performance in Australia, but results have been lacking since. Let’s see if he can beat Lawson as the season progresses. At the moment, it’s fairly close between the two, but I’m still absolutely convinced that Lindblad is the better prospect at Racing Bulls.
19. Liam Lawson
He lacks overall pace and he makes too many mistakes. That’s obviously not ideal for a modern F1 driver, so Lawson must be ranked near the bottom. He was slightly slower than Tsunoda and much slower than rookie Hadjar. That’s not very promising. If Lindblad beats him this year, he could be in trouble. The good news is that the Racing Bulls car is quite fast, so Lawson could have some inflated results that might convince another team to pick him up next year. His seventh-place finishes in China and Canada look impressive on paper, so Lawson is currently overrated. Even more now after his points haul in Monaco.
20. Franco Colapinto
Colapinto finally had some strong performances as he finished 7th in Miami and 6th in Canada. The car must be really quick. Colapinto will have to back it up with more good drives – if he continues to perform well against Gasly, he should rise in the rankings. His Monaco performance didn’t do him any favours, though.
21. Valtteri Bottas
It’s weird to have Bottas back. He accomplished nothing in his final three seasons at Sauber, aside from the first handful of races. The Finn doesn’t seem super motivated either – and based on his social media post, he may have gone mentally insane. With that said, he’s been very unlucky this season and things could improve eventually. But he really needs to get closer to Pérez, otherwise it will be a short return stint for Bottas.
22. Lance Stroll
How is Lance Stroll still in F1? If his father had any ambitions for Aston Martin, he should have replaced his son a long time ago. His big weakness is still wheel-to-wheel racing, and after so many years in F1, he is just not showing any signs of improvement. An absolute waste of a seat. His qualifying performance reached a new low in 2025 as he lost every single session to an old Alonso. This year his car sucks, so Stroll won’t achieve anything. Sadly, he will still keep his seat for obvious reasons.
Check my current team rankings here!
Overrated drivers
A quick list of drivers that are currently overrated by the media and fans. For betting purposes, it’s useful to identify the drivers that are excessively hyped.
Kimi Antonelli: Most fans consider him the championship favourite now, and it makes sense due to his massive lead. But he’s making mistakes in most races, and only gets away with them because of the car’s dominance. His first two wins were entirely down to luck (Russell had battery issues in both China and Japan, and the Suzuka safety car timing was perfect for Antonelli). Miami and Monaco were great performances, but that doesn’t change the fact that Kimi is a bit overrated.
Pierre Gasly: He’s driving well, but car improvement is the main factor behind his good results. He didn’t suddenly turn into a top driver at 30 years old.
Isack Hadjar: Some good qualifying sessions to open the season, but he’s incredibly far off Verstappen’s race pace. Someone on F1 Discussions called him a “superstar”.
Lewis Hamilton: People think he’s “back”. The truth is that the season began with three of his strongest tracks – Melbourne, Shanghai and Montreal. There were also multiple front runners retiring in the races where Lewis finished on the podium. He definitely looks better this year than last year, but he’s no longer a top 5 driver.
Liam Lawson: He’s had some fortunate results to start the year and a solid points haul. I expect Lindblad to win the H2H battle over the entire season. Lawson has scored enough points already to secure a decent position in the WDC, so another team could pick him up for the future. But they really shouldn’t, as Lawson’s results will soon regress to the mean.
Underrated drivers
And here are some underrated drivers at the moment.
Lando Norris: Very quiet start to the year. But we know how fast he is once he gets into a good rhythm, and if McLaren can improve the car, Lando could challenge for wins at some tracks. We saw this in Miami where he performed at a world-class level. In Canada, he could have scored a top result but the team messed up the tyre choice.
Carlos Sainz: He doesn’t get much attention in the slow, overweight Williams, but he’s pulling off some great drives. Just watch his qualifying onboards and his consistency in the races. Since the middle of last season, he’s had a clear edge over Albon. From a sporting perspective, Ferrari made the wrong decision to replace him with Hamilton.
Arvid Lindblad: Lindblad shows great promise. He was unlucky in the first two qualifying sessions of the year, and despite being faster than Lawson at Suzuka, he finished behind him. The entire Miami weekend was bad, but by the time F1 comes to Europe, I expect Lindblad to beat Lawson more often than not.
George Russell: This is so funny – last year, people called him a top 3 driver and almost all online fans were certain that he was better than Norris and Piastri. Now Russell has had a handful of disappointing races, and suddenly he’s the new Ricciardo. This is an overreaction: Russell is still a good driver, and it’s only a matter of time before he bounces back with some strong performances.
