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<\/p>\nWho\u2019s been the best driver in Formula 1 this season?<\/p>\n
The points alone don\u2019t tell all the story.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship\u2122 LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n There\u2019s more to form than championship position.<\/p>\n Note: the below statistics do not include sprint qualifying or sprint races, only grand prix session results.<\/p>\n READ MORE <\/p>\n A perfect F1 storm has dudded Piastri. Form fears are way off the mark and tables could finally turn<\/a><\/p>\n F1 inches closer to final calendar shock; Piastri foe suffers brutal indignity \u2014 Pit Talk<\/a><\/p>\n 1. ANDREA KIMI ANTONELLI<\/p>\n Championship: 1st (219 points)<\/p>\n Wins: 6 (4.1 average)<\/p>\n Poles: 6 (1.9 average)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, races: 5-3 (points: 219-160)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, qualifying: 7-4 (0.136 seconds faster)<\/p>\n It\u2019s no exaggeration to say Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been the revelation of the season.<\/p>\n It\u2019s his second campaign, but the teenager bears little resemblance to the raw talent of last season, when his ability seemed only hinted at.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just that he\u2019s taken an unbelievably large step forward this year. It\u2019s also not just that he\u2019s comfortably beating teammate George Russell, the pre-season title favourite with 128 more starts under his belt.<\/p>\n It\u2019s that he\u2019s as complete a package as you can get at 19 years old.<\/p>\n The one-lap speed is obvious. The racecraft is strong. His ability to manage a race stint rivals that of drivers far more experienced.<\/p>\n Above all, though, is his temperament: mature, level-headed and with an eye for the long game.<\/p>\n In a sense it\u2019s 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\u2019ll see his inexperience show.<\/p>\n So far, however, he\u2019s yet to show any significant weakness. He\u2019s the championship favourite not just in points but in status.<\/p>\n (Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n 2. MAX VERSTAPPEN<\/p>\n Championship: 6th (109 points)<\/p>\n Best finish: 2nd (5.9 average)<\/p>\n Best qualifying: 2nd (5.4 average)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, races: 6-0 (points: 109-68)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, qualifying: 8-2 (0.159 seconds faster)<\/p>\n You\u2019d have got long odds on Max Verstappen being without a win and a pole position this deep into the season, but it isn\u2019t for a lack of trying.<\/p>\n Verstappen\u2019s worth has been clearest in his less successful seasons. Last year\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Despite a lack of headline results in 2026, we\u2019re seeing much the same this year.<\/p>\n We know he hates the regulations, and he\u2019s also deeply intolerant of the car Red Bull Racing has served up to him. Sometimes his complaints are his perfectionism showing, but often it\u2019s been clear to the outside observer that this is not a well-born car \u2014 how can it be when it\u2019s twice thrown him off the road at high speed, in Austria and Great Britain.<\/p>\n But even as he\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n As was the case last year, there\u2019s a strong argument to make that even in uncompetitive machinery, Verstappen remains the bar.<\/p>\n (Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n 3. LANDO NORRIS<\/p>\n Championship: 5th (128 points)<\/p>\n Wins: 1 (4.3 average)<\/p>\n Poles: 1 (4.7 average)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, races: 3-3 (points: 128-92)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, qualifying: 7-4 (0.052 seconds faster)<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the title-defending season Lando Norris was hoping for, but the Briton has felt it\u2019s at least been successful on a personal level, even if a follow-up championship looks out of reach.<\/p>\n Norris has felt he\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n There was a risk coming into this season that, even with the title won, he would be overwhelmed by Oscar Piastri\u2019s trajectory. So far, though, he\u2019s fended off what last year looked like an inevitability to reassert him as McLaren\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n With the car perhaps coming good for the second part of the season, Norris has great potential to move up this list \u2014 and up the title table.<\/p>\n (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n 4. LEWIS HAMILTON<\/p>\n Championship: 2nd (169 points)<\/p>\n Wins: 1 (3.7 average)<\/p>\n Best qualifying: 2nd (4.2 average)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, races: 4-5 (points: 169-138)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, qualifying: 5-6 (0.012 seconds faster)<\/p>\n He\u2019s a seven-time champion at F1\u2019s biggest team, but Lewis Hamilton\u2019s season has been almost under-the-radar good, even amid the spike in interest in a possible championship challenge.<\/p>\n Hamilton\u2019s campaign has been built on consistency and reliability. He\u2019s the only driver to have completed all 673 laps of the season so far, and he\u2019s yet to be classified outside the top six, earning him the highest average classified position of any driver.<\/p>\n As a result, he\u2019s Antonelli\u2019s closest challenger, albeit 50 points down \u2014 though that\u2019s more about quality of machinery than any underperformance on Hamilton\u2019s part.<\/p>\n The comparison with Leclerc is also perhaps misleadingly close. While it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n In fact he\u2019s more often been let down by his team in the quest for points \u2014 the unsafe release penalty in Belgium and a dud strategy in Hungary after he\u2019d copped a grid penalty for impeding in qualifying, which is often down to a lack of communication from the team.<\/p>\n If a non-Mercedes driver is going to win the championship, Hamilton has done enough to make himself most likely to claim it.<\/p>\n (Photo by Greg Baker \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n 5. PIERRE GASLY<\/p>\n Championship: 10th (42 points)<\/p>\n Best finish: 3rd (8.7 average)<\/p>\n Best qualifying: 7th (11.1 average)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, races: 7-3 (points: 42-19)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, qualifying: 8-3 (0.317 seconds faster)<\/p>\n Pierre Gasly is the only driver outside the top four teams to win a podium trophy this season.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Gasly is revelling in having a decently competitive car around him again after last year\u2019s dismal Alpine effort, and he\u2019s reliably making the most of the chance. He\u2019s scored in all but three of his finishes so far this season, and on many of those occasions it\u2019s hard to imagine how he could have got more from his car.<\/p>\n That he\u2019s doing so while also belting teammate Franco Colapinto in both qualifying and race conditions \u2014 and no matter your opinion of Colapinto, he\u2019s an innately quick driver \u2014 only embellishes his form.<\/p>\n He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n (Photo by Sona Maleterova\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n 6. LIAM LAWSON<\/p>\n Championship: 9th (43 points)<\/p>\n Best finish: 6th (8.5 average)<\/p>\n Best qualifying: 8th (10.8 average)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, races: 7-2 (points: 43-23)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, qualifying: 6-5 (0.004 seconds slower)<\/p>\n For a time last season it looked as though Liam Lawson\u2019s Formula 1 career might have been done before it had even really begun.<\/p>\n This year, though, has been a reminder of two things.<\/p>\n The first is the value of having a full and uninterrupted pre-season with a supportive team.<\/p>\n The second is the ability that earned Lawson his F1 shot in the first place.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Racing Bulls has never finished fifth in its long history, but Lawson\u2019s dependability is what underpinned the team\u2019s move into that position in Hungary, and it might be what keeps it there at the end of the season.<\/p>\n (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n 7. CHARLES LECLERC<\/p>\n Championship: 4th (138 points)<\/p>\n Wins: 1 (6.3 average)<\/p>\n Best qualifying: 2nd (4.5 average)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, races: 5-4 (points: 138-169)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, qualifying: 6-5 (0.012 seconds slower)<\/p>\n Charles Leclerc\u2019s seventh place on this list tells you more about how close the top 10 is this year \u2014 or at least everyone behind Antonelli.<\/p>\n Leclerc has had some standout performances this year, particularly at circuits Ferrari expected to struggle at \u2014 Silverstone, where he won, and Spa-Francorchamps being two key examples.<\/p>\n But he\u2019s also been liable to find himself well adrift of teammate Hamilton for no clear or easily solvable reason.<\/p>\n Hungary was a good example. Despite finishing ahead of the Briton \u2014 though only after penalties \u2014 he admitted after qualifying and the race that he was simply missing tenths of a second to his teammate all weekend.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a trend that\u2019s looked clearest at circuits Ferrari has been strongest. He was nowhere near Hamilton on his way to victory in Barcelona, for example.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n But if we\u2019re ruling on the season so far in its totality, it\u2019s hard to look past those early low points just because things have begun to improve.<\/p>\n (Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n 8. ARVID LINDBLAD<\/p>\n Championship: 11th (23 points)<\/p>\n Best finish: 7th (10.0 average)<\/p>\n Best qualifying: 8th (11.1 average)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, races: 2-7 (points: 23-43)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, qualifying: 5-6 (0.004 seconds faster)<\/p>\n Red Bull did nothing to keep a lid on hype around Arvid Lindblad in the lead-up to his debut season \u2014 dating back even as far as 2024. On many occasions it contributed to it.<\/p>\n Fortunately for the Briton, the hype has paid off, with an impressively assured start to life as a Formula 1 driver.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The 18-year-old hasn\u2019t 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 \u2014 or with his teammate, despite their now regular elbows-out battles.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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<\/p>\n 9. GEORGE RUSSELL<\/p>\n Championship: 3rd (160 points)<\/p>\n Wins: 2 (3.9 average)<\/p>\n Poles: 4 (3.1 average)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, races: 3-5 (points: 160-219)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, qualifying: 4-7 (0.136 seconds slower)<\/p>\n You could probably make an argument for George Russell to be higher and lower on this list.<\/p>\n On the one hand, he\u2019s third in the championship, has won two races \u2014 and could\u2019ve won a third with better reliability \u2014 and has four pole positions. He\u2019s also enjoyed at least a couple of races this season in which he\u2019s been untouchably good.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also had more than his fair share of misfortune, holding back his accumulation of points.<\/p>\n Perhaps he should be higher.<\/p>\n On the other hand, he\u2019s 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\u2019s been almost anonymous in the best car on the grid.<\/p>\n He\u2019s now paying dearly for those lacklustre performances, with a closer field at the front making it harder for him to recover ground easily \u2014 so much so that he\u2019s down to third in the standings behind Hamilton.<\/p>\n Antonelli also had comparably bad luck over the balance of the season, somewhat neutralising that as a crutch.<\/p>\n Perhaps, in fact, he should be lower.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s than the points perhaps suggest. He\u2019s not much slower over a lap, and he\u2019s not finishing much further behind his teammate either; he\u2019s just struggled more with his setback, both those he\u2019s made for himself and those foisted upon him by his unreliable car.<\/p>\n The bottom line, though, is that Russell was expected \u2014 and expected himself \u2014 to lead the championship at this stage. He\u2019s waited his whole career for it. But now the moment\u2019s here, he hasn\u2019t had all the answers he thought he would have.<\/p>\n (Photo by Sona Maleterova\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n 10. OSCAR PIASTRI<\/p>\n Championship: 7th (92 points)<\/p>\n Best finish: 2nd (5.8 average)<\/p>\n Best qualifying: 3rd (5.9 average)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, races: 3-3 (points: 92-128)<\/p>\n Teammate head to head, qualifying: 4-7 (0.052 seconds slower)<\/p>\n Ouch.<\/p>\n The driver who led the championship for longer than any other last year, who fell short by just 13 points, down in 10th?<\/p>\n It\u2019s a close top 10, that\u2019s for sure. But it\u2019s also clear that Piastri has been the second-best McLaren driver almost all season.<\/p>\n There have of course been some notable high points.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n