Every F1 driver graded after Australian GP in our 2026 power rankings | F1 | Sport

New for the 2026 season, welcome to our Formula 1 power rankings. Because cars are such a huge performance differentiator in this sport, it’s hard to know who has truly outperformed their rivals over the course of a season. So often we see drivers have a superb race only for their car to let them down, or others in rocket ships who don’t extract the full potential from them.

That’s why we’ve created these new rankings. Every race weekend, we’ll be grading the performance of all 22 drivers relative to their cars. Each driver’s performance in qualifying, Sprints (where applicable) and Grands Prix will all be taken into account.

And, because things move fast in F1, each driver’s power rating will be based on the five most recent Grand Prix weekend – to ensure a racer who performs well in the latter stages of the season is not penalised for a poor start, and vice versa.

Of course, we begin with only one race to go off, and so these first rankings of 2026 are based solely on performance over the Australian Grand Prix weekend. And, of course, they are subjective! But don’t worry if your favourite driver is a lot lower down than you would like – in this new era for F1, things will undoubtedly be changing very quickly! Anyway, let’s get to it.

George Russell – Mercedes – 8.5

The pre-season favourite lived up to the hype, taking pole with a lap that blew everyone else away and converting that into victory. Charles Leclerc made him work for it early on, but as soon as the Mercedes and Ferrari strategies split, it was the Brit’s to lose. Leads the championship for the first time in his career thanks to a strong opening salvo in Melbourne.

Oliver Bearman – Haas – 8.5

Disappointed to have missed out on Q3 in qualifying, but more than made up for it with a brilliant launch off the line in his Ferrari-powered Haas. Finishing as the highest driver outside the top four teams and with six good points scored is an excellent way to start his sophomore F1 season. Had the experience edge to hold off rookie Arvid Lindblad.

Arvid Lindblad – Racing Bulls – 8.5

Our Driver of the Day. Few would have bet on all five Brits finishing in the top eight, but this was a stellar debut for the 18-year-old. Also enjoyed a strong launch but without the help of a Ferrari engine, and the fact that his team-mate bogged down on the line showed it wasn’t easy. Made life hard for some big names early on and barely put a wheel wrong.

Gabriel Bortoleto – Audi – 8

Outqualified Nico Hulkenberg by reaching Q3 before a mechanical problem denied him the chance to start higher than 10th. Converted that into ninth and two points in Audi’s first-ever F1 race under the added pressure of being their only car on track after an issue on Hulkenberg’s car prevented him from starting. Brilliant from the Brazilian.

Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls – 8

Other than Russell, the star of the show on Saturday. Qualifying third in his first race with the team will have delighted Red Bull, who will hope they have finally found the right partner for Max Verstappen. A poor launch saw him lose ground at the start before an early failure forced him to park up. Zero points, but that wasn’t his fault at all. A brilliant first performance in that second Red Bull car.

Charles Leclerc – Ferrari – 8

We all know he’s a qualifying specialist, and fourth place on Saturday set up what would have been a very enjoyable podium to start the new season. Leclerc led at one point but later admitted he didn’t think Ferrari had the pace to fight Mercedes anyway, even if they had approached their pit stops differently. Got the best result with what he had.

Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari – 7.5

There was little to split the two Ferrari drivers by the end of Sunday’s action – 0.625 seconds, to be precise. Leclerc gets half-a-point extra this time because qualifying is a factor and Hamilton was only seventh on the grid, but he looked so much more racy than he did at times last season, and that’s great to see. He’s got that spring back in his step, and it’ll be exciting to see what that brings in the weeks and months ahead.

Max Verstappen – Red Bull – 7.5

Fans’ Driver of the Day. Understandably, given a rise from the 20th grid slot to finish sixth is always going to be seen as a strong comeback. Loses no marks for qualifying so low – his Q1 crash was mechanically caused and out of his control. But, as Verstappen said himself, his rise was mostly just clearing cars that were much slower. A good performance, but there’s much more to come from him.

Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes – 7

Admittedly, a slightly harsh grade, given he matched his career best Grand Prix result by completing a Mercedes one-two behind Russell. But his inexperience was on show at times throughout what was a quite messy weekend overall, including a practice crash that very nearly saw him miss qualifying altogether. A slow race start gave him work to do to wrestle P2 back. Benefited from the pace of his car to get the result he did and needs to tidy things up, but a good start to the season nonetheless.

Pierre Gasly – Alpine – 7

A point to start the season, though Gasly said he was hoping for more than 14th place in qualifying and that, in turn, could have led to a better result than P10 on Sunday. But it was an encouraging start for Gasly, who beat his fellow Frenchman and former team-mate Esteban Ocon to get off to a scoring start to 2026.

Nico Hulkenberg – Haas – 7

Very narrowly beaten to Q3 by team-mate Bortoleto, who was less than a tenth of a second quicker. Audi might have preferred for the experienced German to go through, given that the other car immediately broke down and couldn’t compete in Q3. Never got the chance to make up for it because of the issue with his car that prevented him from starting. Did little wrong personally, though.

Esteban Ocon – Haas – 6.5

Qualified just behind his team-mate to set up a chance of double points for Haas, but that didn’t materialise. While Bearman made good inroads into the top 10, Ocon found pace harder to come by and moaned afterwards that he “doesn’t seem to have the same car as Ollie”. He does, but clearly didn’t set it up as well, and that’s something he’ll need to improve upon.

Sergio Perez – Cadillac – 6.5

Cadillac expected little from their first race in F1 and will be pleased that at least one of their cars finished it, even if Perez was three laps down on the leaders when he took the chequered flag. The data he collected will be invaluable, and the fact that he out-qualified team-mate Valtteri Bottas gets him a half-point more than the par score.

Lando Norris – McLaren – 6

A thoroughly underwhelming start to Norris’ title defence. Sixth on the grid, having been narrowly outqualified by Oscar Piastri, he immediately inherited fifth because of his team-mate’s misfortune but made no further progress, finishing nearly 52 seconds behind Russell and 35 seconds adrift of Hamilton one place ahead. McLaren is clearly lacking pace, but it wasn’t Norris’s best display either.

Alex Albon – Williams – 6

Williams had said they’d start the season off the pace, and they were proved right. Albon reached Q2 in qualifying, but with team-mate Carlos Sainz stuck in the garage, there was no reference to gauge whether 15th on the grid was a good or bad result. Finished the race three places higher, but three drivers who qualified ahead either DNS or DNF. So it’s the par score for Alex.

Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls – 6

A brilliant Saturday was tempered somewhat by a much more difficult Sunday. The Racing Bulls were clearly quick as both he and Lindblad proved with their Q3 appearances, and Lawson would have been pleased to have started ahead of his team-mate. But a terrible launch set the tone, and he could recover only to 13th. He’ll need to execute full weekends better going forward.

Franco Colapinto – Alpine – 6

Out-qualified by Gasly in the other Alpine and finishing the race two laps down on the leaders and a long way off the points, Colapinto will need to perform better than this if he’s to see out the season – especially with Flavio Briatore the one calling the shots. An extra half-point for miraculously avoiding a crash with Lawson off the line brings him back up to the par score.

Carlos Sainz – Williams – 6

Never got the chance to qualify and, like Albon, didn’t manage to make any meaningful progress in the race. Gets the same score as his team-mate as a result – both will hope Williams can take better advantage of those Mercedes engines soon.

Lance Stroll – Aston Martin – 6

Couldn’t qualify because of Aston Martin’s lack of spare parts. Completed 43 race laps, which was better than pretty much anyone was expecting, given their engine reliability problems. That team is in a real mess, but it’s not the fault of either of their drivers.

Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin – 6

Nothing to add beyond the above. We can’t really judge either Alonso or Stroll until they have a car capable of at least finishing a race.

Oscar Piastri – McLaren – 5.5

It was hard not to feel for Piastri, who has had a terrible time of it on home soil over the last two years. The Melburnian finished this race ninth after spinning off track last year and didn’t even start this time after taking too much kerb on a reconnaissance lap, which flicked his McLaren into the wall. After that very costly mistake, it’s only up from here for Oscar.

Valtteri Bottas – Cadillac – 5.5

Slowest of all those who took part in qualifying, which was no real surprise given Cadillac has started from scratch, but he will have been disappointed to have been six-tenths slower than Perez. Denied the chance to make up for it on Sunday because of a mechanical DNF.