{"id":410752,"date":"2026-01-15T11:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T11:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/410752\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T11:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T11:03:10","slug":"2026s-formula-1-drivers-pick-whos-hot-and-whos-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/410752\/","title":{"rendered":"2026\u2019s Formula 1 drivers pick, who\u2019s hot and who\u2019s not?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trying to predict the front-runners for this year\u2019s forthcoming Formula 1<\/a> season has never been trickier.If the regulations had stayed as they were<\/a>, things would have been a lot easier. Except for Alpine and its PU, 2025 saw significant convergence in car performance across the grid.<\/p>\n

This allowed us some insight as to how the talent bags of the different drivers compared.<\/p>\n

Steam<\/p>\n

However, faced with 2026\u2019s unprecedented redefinition of what is and what is not allowed, the driver landscape becomes foggy.<\/p>\n

Talking of wet and damp, the first person we need to consider is the current Incumbent Formula 1<\/a> World Champion.<\/p>\n

Lando Norris stepped up to the plate in the latter half of the season, but his performance was hardly electric. You got the feeling that it was a Herculean task to cling to his fragile Championship lead; one that he had to dig so deep for, that he may not want to repeat again.<\/p>\n

Lando is probably still the best qualifier on the grid. A requirement that was critical in 2025, since being first into Turn 1 meant clean air.<\/p>\n

However, this is unlikely to be such a defining skill in 2026. There\u2019s a feeling of \u2018been there, done that, and thankfully, got the trophy\u2019 about Norris that reminds me of Nico Rosberg.<\/p>\n

Not that Lando will be retiring, but we may see his hunger reduced.<\/p>\n

Hot\"piastri<\/p>\n

Staying within the same team, Parc Ferme predicted Oscar Piastri would beat Norris last year. The closest thing to Max Verstappen on the grid, the young Aussie was well on his way to fulfilling this prophecy – that is, until he mysteriously forgot how to drive.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, his memory lapse recovered at the back end of the season. With another year\u2019s experience now under his belt, we can expect him to evolve further.<\/p>\n

Parc Ferme once again believes Piastri will come out ahead<\/a> in this teammate battle in 2026, especially as Norris publicly shared the same view at the end of the Abu Dhabi race.Hotter<\/p>\n

Who\u2019d bet against Max Verstappen, not you, not I. Regardless of how the cards land in the performance stakes at the start of the season, Max proved he can motivate the team to produce a competitive car.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no other driver currently in F1<\/a> who can do this and deliver at the same time \u00e0 la Michael Schumacher.<\/p>\n

Verstappen is at the top of his game, and the games of everyone else on the grid.<\/p>\n

Warmish\"hadjar<\/p>\n

Isack Hadjar will probably sit comfortably in 2026. Expectations for him to perform have thankfully been tempered by previous incumbents of the Red Bull number two seat.<\/p>\n

Ironically, this may reduce the burden slightly and help him deliver the kind of wingman performance required for Red Bull to win the F1<\/a> Constructors\u2019 Championship.<\/p>\n

We can also expect a step-up from Ollie Bearman. The young Brit has put away his water pistols and was maturing nicely towards the end of last season.<\/p>\n

A Ferrari seat beckons for the 2025 overtaking Champion – a characteristic the Tifosi would adore in the absence of silverware.<\/p>\n

Whether the new rules produce the overtaking fest predicted or not, Ollie will shine.<\/p>\n

Lukewarm\"hamilton<\/p>\n

This has to be Ferrari country. Fred Vasseur has already signalled that the tyres will be the key to everything.<\/p>\n

This echoes John Elkan\u2019s position that there\u2019s nothing wrong with Ferrari\u2019s engineers, ergo the chassis and PU are \u2018top shelf\u2019.<\/p>\n

Nice spin, Fred, but no one\u2019s buying that tiramisu. Unfortunately, such talk is not encouraging for the Maranello pilots.<\/p>\n

Expect Charles Leclerc to continue his look of long-suffering disappointment, and Lewis Hamilton, his countenance of confusion.<\/p>\n

Not<\/p>\n

No matter what magic Adrian Newey or Honda produce, it\u2019s difficult to imagine Lance Stroll maximising that performance.<\/p>\n

If Parc Ferme had one word to sum him up for 2025, it would be resignation.<\/p>\n

Lance neither looks nor sounds like he wants to be within a thousand miles of either a Grand Prix or an F1<\/a> car.<\/p>\n

Unless Aston Martin have made a big leap forward, we can expect him to slug it out with Franco Colapinto and Cadillac at the rear of the grid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trying to predict the front-runners for this year\u2019s forthcoming Formula 1 season has never been trickier.If the regulations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,131193,166709,166708,172888,28673,170450,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-410752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-f1-2026","tag-f1-2026-power-unit","tag-f1-2026-regulations","tag-f1-drivers-news","tag-f1-news","tag-f1-opinion","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}