Who’s been the best driver in Formula 1 this season?
The points alone don’t tell all the story.
Not every title-calibre driver has the machinery to match championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Not every driver in a competitive car has demonstrated the ability to compete at the very pointy end of the field.
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There’s more to form than championship position.
Note: the below statistics do not include sprint qualifying or sprint races, only grand prix session results.
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1. ANDREA KIMI ANTONELLI
Championship: 1st (219 points)
Wins: 6 (4.1 average)
Poles: 6 (1.9 average)
Teammate head to head, races: 5-3 (points: 219-160)
Teammate head to head, qualifying: 7-4 (0.136 seconds faster)
It’s no exaggeration to say Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been the revelation of the season.
It’s his second campaign, but the teenager bears little resemblance to the raw talent of last season, when his ability seemed only hinted at.
It’s not just that he’s taken an unbelievably large step forward this year. It’s also not just that he’s comfortably beating teammate George Russell, the pre-season title favourite with 128 more starts under his belt.
It’s that he’s as complete a package as you can get at 19 years old.
The one-lap speed is obvious. The racecraft is strong. His ability to manage a race stint rivals that of drivers far more experienced.
Above all, though, is his temperament: mature, level-headed and with an eye for the long game.
In a sense it’s easy when expectations are low, as they were for Antonelli at the beginning of the season. Perhaps in the second half of the year, as the title-crowning moment draws near, we’ll see his inexperience show.
So far, however, he’s yet to show any significant weakness. He’s the championship favourite not just in points but in status.
(Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV / AFP)Source: AFP
2. MAX VERSTAPPEN
Championship: 6th (109 points)
Best finish: 2nd (5.9 average)
Best qualifying: 2nd (5.4 average)
Teammate head to head, races: 6-0 (points: 109-68)
Teammate head to head, qualifying: 8-2 (0.159 seconds faster)
You’d have got long odds on Max Verstappen being without a win and a pole position this deep into the season, but it isn’t for a lack of trying.
Verstappen’s worth has been clearest in his less successful seasons. Last year’s campaign was arguably his best, better even than his record-breaking 2023 domination, because it gave us an understanding of just how deeply he could dig.
Despite a lack of headline results in 2026, we’re seeing much the same this year.
We know he hates the regulations, and he’s also deeply intolerant of the car Red Bull Racing has served up to him. Sometimes his complaints are his perfectionism showing, but often it’s been clear to the outside observer that this is not a well-born car — how can it be when it’s twice thrown him off the road at high speed, in Austria and Great Britain.
But even as he’s contemplated quitting the team and the sport, his performances have remained relentless. His Hungarian Grand Prix perhaps exemplifies the first part of the season, with Verstappen finishing second after a superb defensive and offensive drive in a car that clearly had no business being near the podium. His post-race shock at his result was genuine.
As was the case last year, there’s a strong argument to make that even in uncompetitive machinery, Verstappen remains the bar.
(Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP)Source: AFP
3. LANDO NORRIS
Championship: 5th (128 points)
Wins: 1 (4.3 average)
Poles: 1 (4.7 average)
Teammate head to head, races: 3-3 (points: 128-92)
Teammate head to head, qualifying: 7-4 (0.052 seconds faster)
This isn’t the title-defending season Lando Norris was hoping for, but the Briton has felt it’s at least been successful on a personal level, even if a follow-up championship looks out of reach.
Norris has felt he’s been driving at a higher level than he had been last season but had lacked the tools and the opportunity to make much of that form, with McLaren spending most of the season sliding down the order.
There have been glimpses of greatness, though, and his domination of Hungary is just the latest example. Miami would surely have been his first victory with a less conservative McLaren strategy, and somewhat less heralded was his Mercedes-level pace in Barcelona, where attrition rewarded him with a podium.
There was a risk coming into this season that, even with the title won, he would be overwhelmed by Oscar Piastri’s trajectory. So far, though, he’s fended off what last year looked like an inevitability to reassert him as McLaren’s leader.
With the car perhaps coming good for the second part of the season, Norris has great potential to move up this list — and up the title table.
(Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)Source: AFP
4. LEWIS HAMILTON
Championship: 2nd (169 points)
Wins: 1 (3.7 average)
Best qualifying: 2nd (4.2 average)
Teammate head to head, races: 4-5 (points: 169-138)
Teammate head to head, qualifying: 5-6 (0.012 seconds faster)
He’s a seven-time champion at F1’s biggest team, but Lewis Hamilton’s season has been almost under-the-radar good, even amid the spike in interest in a possible championship challenge.
Hamilton’s campaign has been built on consistency and reliability. He’s the only driver to have completed all 673 laps of the season so far, and he’s yet to be classified outside the top six, earning him the highest average classified position of any driver.
As a result, he’s Antonelli’s closest challenger, albeit 50 points down — though that’s more about quality of machinery than any underperformance on Hamilton’s part.
The comparison with Leclerc is also perhaps misleadingly close. While it’s hardly one-way traffic, Hamilton has been the driver to get the most from the car on its best days but minimising his losses on the difficult ones.
In fact he’s more often been let down by his team in the quest for points — the unsafe release penalty in Belgium and a dud strategy in Hungary after he’d copped a grid penalty for impeding in qualifying, which is often down to a lack of communication from the team.
If a non-Mercedes driver is going to win the championship, Hamilton has done enough to make himself most likely to claim it.
(Photo by Greg Baker / AFP)Source: AFP
5. PIERRE GASLY
Championship: 10th (42 points)
Best finish: 3rd (8.7 average)
Best qualifying: 7th (11.1 average)
Teammate head to head, races: 7-3 (points: 42-19)
Teammate head to head, qualifying: 8-3 (0.317 seconds faster)
Pierre Gasly is the only driver outside the top four teams to win a podium trophy this season.
Yes, there is a little asterisk over the events of the Monaco Grand Prix, which was also highly attritional at the front, but the fact the Frenchman was in a position to capitalise is the point.
Gasly is revelling in having a decently competitive car around him again after last year’s dismal Alpine effort, and he’s reliably making the most of the chance. He’s scored in all but three of his finishes so far this season, and on many of those occasions it’s hard to imagine how he could have got more from his car.
That he’s doing so while also belting teammate Franco Colapinto in both qualifying and race conditions — and no matter your opinion of Colapinto, he’s an innately quick driver — only embellishes his form.
He’s undeniably the backbone of his team and its bid for fifth in the championship standings and integral to its objectives in a way few other drivers are.
(Photo by Sona Maleterova/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
6. LIAM LAWSON
Championship: 9th (43 points)
Best finish: 6th (8.5 average)
Best qualifying: 8th (10.8 average)
Teammate head to head, races: 7-2 (points: 43-23)
Teammate head to head, qualifying: 6-5 (0.004 seconds slower)
For a time last season it looked as though Liam Lawson’s Formula 1 career might have been done before it had even really begun.
This year, though, has been a reminder of two things.
The first is the value of having a full and uninterrupted pre-season with a supportive team.
The second is the ability that earned Lawson his F1 shot in the first place.
The Kiwi is in a tough spot this year, being his first full prix season with just one team while also being expected to be the Racing Bulls senior driver alongside Arvid Lindblad, the driver whose job it is effectively to replace him in the Red Bull program.
He’s risen to that challenge strongly, matching the rapid Lindblad in qualifying but proving himself to be far steadier a hand in race conditions, with eight scoring weekends out of 11, including an impressive run of five consecutive rounds in the points between Canada and Great Britain, including a well-judged sixth in Monaco.
Racing Bulls has never finished fifth in its long history, but Lawson’s dependability is what underpinned the team’s move into that position in Hungary, and it might be what keeps it there at the end of the season.
(Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
7. CHARLES LECLERC
Championship: 4th (138 points)
Wins: 1 (6.3 average)
Best qualifying: 2nd (4.5 average)
Teammate head to head, races: 5-4 (points: 138-169)
Teammate head to head, qualifying: 6-5 (0.012 seconds slower)
Charles Leclerc’s seventh place on this list tells you more about how close the top 10 is this year — or at least everyone behind Antonelli.
Leclerc has had some standout performances this year, particularly at circuits Ferrari expected to struggle at — Silverstone, where he won, and Spa-Francorchamps being two key examples.
But he’s also been liable to find himself well adrift of teammate Hamilton for no clear or easily solvable reason.
Hungary was a good example. Despite finishing ahead of the Briton — though only after penalties — he admitted after qualifying and the race that he was simply missing tenths of a second to his teammate all weekend.
It’s a trend that’s looked clearest at circuits Ferrari has been strongest. He was nowhere near Hamilton on his way to victory in Barcelona, for example.
Monaco is another example, where he crashed out of the race late, even if he blamed a lack of feeling from the brakes following the safety car.
The Monegasque has taken a new approach in recent races that appears to be paying off, bringing him closer to the front and raising hopes for a better second half of the season.
But if we’re ruling on the season so far in its totality, it’s hard to look past those early low points just because things have begun to improve.
(Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP)Source: AFP
8. ARVID LINDBLAD
Championship: 11th (23 points)
Best finish: 7th (10.0 average)
Best qualifying: 8th (11.1 average)
Teammate head to head, races: 2-7 (points: 23-43)
Teammate head to head, qualifying: 5-6 (0.004 seconds faster)
Red Bull did nothing to keep a lid on hype around Arvid Lindblad in the lead-up to his debut season — dating back even as far as 2024. On many occasions it contributed to it.
Fortunately for the Briton, the hype has paid off, with an impressively assured start to life as a Formula 1 driver.
In the era of extremely limited testing, rookies are rarely close to the finished product on debut, but the tell is always in qualifying, when raw speed will always find a way to shine through.
He been almost exactly a match for Lawson, his slightly more experienced teammate, over a single lap, which has put him in contention for regular points.
The 18-year-old hasn’t been quite as polished in race conditions, and blatantly ignoring reliability-related team orders not to race Lawson in Austria was churlish, but it appears to have been easy enough to write off as youthful misdirection, with no obvious harm done to his relationship with the team — or with his teammate, despite their now regular elbows-out battles.
Keeping up the momentum in the second half of the year is critical now, but Lindblad is evidence that the Red Bull talent pipeline is flowing again.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY – JULY 25: Arvid Lindblad of Great Britain and Visa Cash App Racing Bulls walks in the Paddock prior to final practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on July 25, 2026 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
9. GEORGE RUSSELL
Championship: 3rd (160 points)
Wins: 2 (3.9 average)
Poles: 4 (3.1 average)
Teammate head to head, races: 3-5 (points: 160-219)
Teammate head to head, qualifying: 4-7 (0.136 seconds slower)
You could probably make an argument for George Russell to be higher and lower on this list.
On the one hand, he’s third in the championship, has won two races — and could’ve won a third with better reliability — and has four pole positions. He’s also enjoyed at least a couple of races this season in which he’s been untouchably good.
He’s also had more than his fair share of misfortune, holding back his accumulation of points.
Perhaps he should be higher.
On the other hand, he’s being comfortably beaten by a teenage teammate in just his second season in Formula 1 and has had more than a couple of races in which he’s been almost anonymous in the best car on the grid.
He’s now paying dearly for those lacklustre performances, with a closer field at the front making it harder for him to recover ground easily — so much so that he’s down to third in the standings behind Hamilton.
Antonelli also had comparably bad luck over the balance of the season, somewhat neutralising that as a crutch.
Perhaps, in fact, he should be lower.
Ninth being a middle ground is recognition of both of those viewpoints but also of the fact that, really, his performances have been closer to Antonelli’s than the points perhaps suggest. He’s not much slower over a lap, and he’s not finishing much further behind his teammate either; he’s just struggled more with his setback, both those he’s made for himself and those foisted upon him by his unreliable car.
The bottom line, though, is that Russell was expected — and expected himself — to lead the championship at this stage. He’s waited his whole career for it. But now the moment’s here, he hasn’t had all the answers he thought he would have.
(Photo by Sona Maleterova/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
10. OSCAR PIASTRI
Championship: 7th (92 points)
Best finish: 2nd (5.8 average)
Best qualifying: 3rd (5.9 average)
Teammate head to head, races: 3-3 (points: 92-128)
Teammate head to head, qualifying: 4-7 (0.052 seconds slower)
Ouch.
The driver who led the championship for longer than any other last year, who fell short by just 13 points, down in 10th?
It’s a close top 10, that’s for sure. But it’s also clear that Piastri has been the second-best McLaren driver almost all season.
There have of course been some notable high points.
He could have had two tremendously opportunistic wins to his name already, in Japan and Hungary, had fortune been on his side on both afternoons.
But even he admits his season has been more lows than highs so far.
When he’s been behind Norris, he’s been behind by a lot — less so in qualifying, when it’s remained close, but especially in race trim.
There’s some element of Piastri’s natural driving style being hamstrung by the 2026 car and engine, which have neutered some of his traditional strengths. There’s also a degree of misfortune, with the Australian struck by poor circumstances in the last month of racing in particular.
But it’s also true that Norris has found another level that Piastri is yet to match, and that’s what’s sunk him down the order.
Too harsh, or not harsh enough? Perhaps the second half of the season will give us some more context.
(Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
11. CARLOS SAINZ (15TH, 6 POINTS)
Another driver who could arguably be listed much higher, Carlos Sainz’s season has been difficult to read thanks to his Williams car’s woeful performance and reliability record that has meant he and teammate Alex Albon have rarely both finished races. Even so, it’s hard to look past his formidable 9-1 qualifying record over the Thai driver — a known competitive quantity — as a sign that the Spaniard’s level is undiminished.
12. ISACK HADJAR (8TH, 68 POINTS)
Isack Hadjar is finally filling the hole left by Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull Racing at the end of 2018 by serving as a competitive teammate for Max Verstappen. He’s yet to finish ahead of the Dutchman, but he’s on average just 0.159 seconds adrift in qualifying and is scoring regular points — form his various predecessors could only dream of. Considering how rough the Red Bull Racing car has been this season — just ask Verstappen — it’s a massively commendable performance in just his second season in Formula 1.
13. OLIVER BEARMAN (13TH, 18 POINTS)
Oliver Bearman has kicked on from the strong second half of his rookie season to become Haas’s unchallenged team leader over Esteban Ocon, with an 8-3 qualifying record — and impressively 0.223 seconds faster on average — and a comprehensive 7-1 race head-to-head count that has him leading 18-3 on points. There is a small question mark over the car’s consistency in these figures but no such doubt over Bearman’s form.
(Photo by Sona Maleterova/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
14. FERNANDO ALONSO (19TH, 1 POINT)
Fernando Alonso has really had only one meaningful weekend this season: in Hungary, where his car was competitive for the first time all season and he duly made it into Q2, giving the team direction in its bid to revolutionise its season. Though his qualifying whitewash over Lance Stroll dating back to 2024 has ended, his average 0.375-second one-lap advantage is the biggest in the sport, which says plenty — and isn’t too shabby for a 45-year-old.
15. SERGIO PEREZ (20TH, 0 POINTS)
Sergio Pérez said he was returning to Formula 1 with a point to prove after being sacked by Red Bull Racing, and it’s undeniable that he’s hit the ground running. He’s been the foremost of the Cadillac drivers when comparisons have been possible — including in qualifying, not one of his traditional strengths — and looks rejuvenated and re-energised from his enforced season on the sidelines.
16. NICO HÜLKENBERG (18TH, 2 POINTS)
After a 2025 battle with rookie teammate Gabriel Bortoleto that threatened to get away from him, Nico Hülkenberg has re-established himself in Audi’s first official season, with slender qualifying and race advantages that have marked him as the clear lead driver. That it took him until Hungary to score his first points this season is unlikely, with four failures to start or finish and a bevy of 11th and 12th-place finishes to his name prior — and that’s without mentioning Audi’s huge problem launching from the grid that’s seen him drop 28 places on the first lap of grands prix this season.
(Photo by Sona Maleterova/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
17. GABRIEL BORTOLETO (14TH, 10 POINTS)
Gabriel Bortoleto has taken time to fire in the new generation of car, having been mostly outclassed by Hülkenberg until July, when he began to turn the tide in his favour, including with a couple of points-paying finishes. The Brazilian is beginning to recover the middle-2025 form that had him highly rated last season.
18. FRANCO COLAPINTO (12TH, 19 POINTS)
There have been some weekends on which Franco Colapinto has warranted a much higher place in the rankings than this, in particular during a promising run of form in Miami and Canada after the Alpine car received its first major upgrade. He was also competitive in the previous two races before the break. Between them, however, he’s occasionally been bafflingly off the pace, enough that there must still be questions about whether he can attain the sort of consistency required for a manufacturer brand like Renault-backed Alpine — something he’s yet to demonstrate in his career — particularly if better established drivers are on the market.
19. VALTTERI BOTTAS (22ND, 0 POINTS)
Valtteri Bottas has made less of an impression in terms of pure performance at Cadillac, where he’s been beaten by Pérez for much of the season, though he’s been much more competitive relatively at the last four rounds. Though the mounting unreliability count has made comparisons increasingly difficult, and there are also understandable questions over the quality of the car in Cadillac’s first season, he’s nonetheless clearly been the second-best driver at the new team.
(Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP)Source: AFP
20. ALEX ALBON (16TH, 5 POINTS)
Alex Albon has come off thoroughly second-best not only to teammate Carlos Sainz but to his woeful Williams car too, with four failures to start or finish grands prix for the season so far, but his obliteration in qualifying — even if the car has been inconsistent — is hard to look past.
21. ESTEBAN OCON (17TH, 3 POINTS)
Could this be Esteban Ocon’s last season? Paddock speculation is powerful that Haas will switch out the Frenchman at the end of the season for either a rookie or Yuki Tsunoda, and it’s not hard to understand why when Ocon has been comprehensively outperformed by his younger teammate for a year now. Though both Ocon and Bearman have hinted at car peculiarities exaggerating the gap, it’s hard to account for the one-way traffic with machinery alone.
Perhaps it’s harsh giving the driver with the least to drive for last in the rankings, particularly when his woeful car has delivered him just four classified finishes all season. But as has been the case for years, Stroll has been comprehensively outclassed by a driver far older and with far less to prove, making it difficult to argue for a higher place in the rankings for the Canadian.