Here are our fresh F1 driver rankings ahead of the 2026 season.
The rankings are based on the drivers’ currently expected levels. They are not an accumulation of grades, not solely based on previous performances, nor based on a driver’s potential into the future.
We simply try to determine: Who is the best right now?
1. Max Verstappen
With his superior racecraft and ability to maximise the potential of the car, no driver is currently better than the Dutchman. He’s also willing to bend the rules to his advantage whenever needed – not unlike former greats such as Senna and Schumacher. It’s a shame that he drives dirty, because he would still be the best if he was a clean driver.
2. Charles Leclerc
One of F1’s most exciting drivers. No one doubts his one-lap speed, and he improved his racecraft tremendously back in 2024. But he still makes frequent mistakes, lacks alpha mentality, and while other drivers make their own decisions, Leclerc is often hesitant and allows Ferrari’s horrible engineers to instruct him on strategy. He’s way ahead of Hamilton on pace, which is a good sign but not a surprise. If Ferrari produce a good car, he could easily challenge for the title.
3. Oscar Piastri
Piastri took a huge step up in 2025. His level is already so high that it might be difficult to progress further. What Piastri has to do now is maintain a high level of consistency throughout the year, i.e. avoid a late-season slump. If he can do so, he’s a title challenger again, and he might just beat Norris this time around. Based on their levels for most of last year, Piastri might have the edge going into 2026. He has more room to improve than Norris and Russell, although they are hard to differentiate.
4. Lando Norris
The McLaren team gets more credit for Norris’ recent success than Norris himself. He could be F1’s second-fastest man based on pure speed, as long as there are no other obstacles. He lacks the ruthless winner mentality, though. The other drivers know they can race him aggressively, and they know their statements in the media will affect his confidence. Recently he has shown more guts and coping much better under pressure. It will be interesting to see how winning a title will affect his mentality going forward.
5. George Russell
Russell reestablished himself as a top-class driver in 2024. He’s super fast over one lap as well as over a race distance, and he’s now the lead driver of Mercedes. With two race wins in 2025, his performance was almost flawless. But we know that he isn’t great under pressure, so that prevents him from being ranked in the top 3. He simply wasn’t exposed to pressure in 2025. Antonelli got closer by the end of the year, but Russell is still the clear leader at Mercedes.
6. Carlos Sainz
Sainz struggled early on with the handling of the FW47 and he had far too many technical issues. Eventually, the Spaniard got on top of it and looked like the better Williams driver, at least when we look at upside. Two podium finishes in that car was mighty impressive. The pace of the 2026 Williams remains to be seen, but Sainz could easily emerge as the leader of the midfield.
7. Alex Albon
Albon’s style is also perfect for the midfield. Along with Sainz, he provides Williams with a very strong lineup. Usually better in races than in qualifying, Albon is better than most drivers but not an ultra-elite talent. His current priority is to beat Sainz over the year and make it to the podium at least once in 2026. The interesting thing is that the two Williams pilots have vastly different driving styles, so whoever comes out on top will depend on the balance of the car.
8. Fernando Alonso
The most entertaining racer to watch in wheel-to-wheel battles. If you had to watch just one driver onboard the entire race, let it be Alonso. He uses his experience to his advantage and has an easy teammate to “compete” with. He’s quite old at this point so his performance will slowly decline. Still a very solid driver though, but no longer elite, so he needs a really fast Aston Martin if he wants to compete at the very front. Time is against Alonso, sadly.
9. Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton is no longer at his peak but is still a pretty good racer when the opportunity presents itself. His deficit to Leclerc was expected due to his age, as well as the fact that Hamilton was never actually an all-time great like Senna, Schumacher or Verstappen. It’s ridiculous when he enters those conversations – he simply had amazing cars his entire career. He ended 2025 with some poor performances, but perhaps the new car will be more to his liking.
10. Oliver Bearman
His performances are up and down. Sometimes he’s great, other times he sucks, and errors are still a bit too frequent. But he has huge potential and already out-paced Ocon at 20 years old. Bearman looked really, really good by the end of 2025. He already seems like a top 10 driver, the question is if he can progress further. 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. He tends to drop back in races. A less exciting version of Jarno Trulli, if you will, but at least without the ‘trains’ behind him. By the end of the year, we finally saw flashes of his talent again – mainly at Interlagos. He’s a solid midfield driver, and if the motivation is there (closely linked to car performance for Gasly), he can compete at the upper midfield.
12. Esteban Ocon
We used to think he was underrated, but losing to a young and inexperienced Bearman probably shows that Ocon is fairly rated as a very average driver who isn’t that exciting to watch. He’s still a solid midfield driver, though. But it does seem like he – similar to Gasly – loses motivation easily. Perhaps it has occurred to him that he will never get a top seat, so he doesn’t drive with the same hunger as he did in his early days.
13. Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes brought him in too early. But don’t lose faith: Antonelli shows signs of being a great racer, and he already performs well at technically difficult tracks. Everyone expects Antonelli to take the next step in 2026, but most likely, he will still be quite a bit off of Russell’s pace. Ranking in the lower end of the top 10 by the end of the year is possible if he has a strong second year in F1.
14. Gabriel Bortoleto
Bortoleto showed great racecraft and aggressiveness in the junior series. In F1, his performances have been fairly boring. Despite performing well next to Hülkenberg in H2H 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, however, it could come this year. Drivers usually improve in their second season so he is projected to be ahead of Hülkenberg, but only by a bit.
15. Nico Hülkenberg
Hülkenberg 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 seems to value race setups more. ‘The Hulk’ finally got a well-deserved podium in 2025, and despite struggling head-to-head against his rookie teammate, Hülkenberg has higher peaks. Perhaps he’ll get another podium this year. A small decline is expected due to his age, though.
16. Isack Hadjar
Hadjar had a decent, albeit overrated, rookie campaign. Placing him at Red Bull in his second season could kill his career. The good news is that Red Bull should have a brand new car philosophy this year, plus a better environment, so Hadjar may not struggle like the previous second-drivers. Still, it’s a difficult road ahead. The pack is very close so Hadjar needs to be within 2-3 tenths of Verstappen to not have a Tsunoda-like performance.
17. Sergio Pérez
He didn’t have much of a real chance at Red Bull by the end of his stint there. A return for Cadillac could work out for him. Pérez actually thrives in slower cars and can occasionally deliver some unexpected results due to his tyre management skills.
18. Valtteri Bottas
It’s weird to have Bottas back. He accomplished nothing in his final three seasons at Sauber, aside from the early races. After a season out of the sport, his level is probably even worse than before. He could beat Pérez in qualifying sessions, as that is his speciality, but expecting more than that is unlikely. Ranking him 18th seems fair.
19. Arvid Lindblad
He performed a bit worse than expected in F2, but F2 results don’t mean much anymore. Lindblad will probably have an edge over Lawson even as a rookie. He projects to be slightly slower than Hadjar in his rookie year, mainly due to his age (18). However, Lindblad has massive upside and could be a top 5 driver by 2030.
20. Franco Colapinto
Colapinto struggled with a slow car for most of 2025. While Gasly still had a few good races, Colapinto did not. He lacks upside and that makes it difficult to rank him higher than this. You could argue he should be last, but he did manage to beat Gasly a few times, and he also had some inspired Williams performances in 2024. So I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
21. 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 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. If the car is great, Stroll could have some top 8 results, but don’t get confused: He is one of the worst drivers on the grid!
22. Liam Lawson
He lacks pace and he makes too many mistakes. That is obviously not ideal for a modern F1 driver so Lawson must be ranked lowly. He was slightly slower than Tsunoda and much slower than rookie Hadjar. That’s not very promising. If Lindblad beats him right out of the gate, Lawson could be replaced by midseason.
