Kimi Antonelli

Astonishing progression from his patchy and underprepared rookie season. Yes, he’s in the best car but he’s doing things with it that stand comparison with the finest. In fact his apparently effortless and total domination of the Monaco weekend ranks with some of the all-time greats around there. It’s not just his record-busting five-consecutive-winning breakthrough, nor the way he’s put a world class performer like George Russell into crisis mode. It’s the fact that nothing interrupts the level of performance regardless of car, tyre or track traits on the day; he adapts immediately and is never anything other than stunningly fast.

Grade: A+

George Russell

Going into his eighth F1 season, this driver, who’d operated at a world title-contending level of performance for years, finally had a world title level of car. This was it, so it seemed, the season in which it was all going to come together. It might still do, but it now looks a long shot such has been the inconsistency of his performance relative to his junior team-mate and his difficulty with the ’26-spec front tyres, especially on low-grip surfaces. Still capable of dominating a weekend but can’t be relied upon to do so.

Grade: B-

Lewis Hamilton

He’s almost back! The Lewis Hamilton that Ferrari hoped it had signed has become far more visible in this car than last year’s. It’s not just that it’s a much more competitive racer, but one which allows him to drive in his natural way. He’s still finding his way to consistently nailing its absolute sweet spot and he’s not always faster than Charles Leclerc, but he has been the more effective Ferrari driver overall so far. He’s been vindicated on the development direction of the team too – and once this team gets fully behind a driver it can be a powerful thing. There may be yet more to come.

Grade: B+

Charles Leclerc

He was lost for three or four races, Canada to Austria, as he adapted to changes which Lewis Hamilton had initiated but which he chose to follow a few races later and with some resistance. There’s also some evidence that the energy management of these cars has lost him some of the edge in one-lap pace – which he used to derive from how creatively he used the throttle on corner entry. But before his brakes saga he was the faster Ferrari driver, albeit not by much – and then he made his Silverstone breakthrough in performance and the victory. Too good to be overwhelmed by Hamilton, but it is now a contest.

Grade: B-

Max Verstappen

The moments of Max Verstappen brilliance where he drags a front-running lap time from a recalcitrant car and scares Mercedes are still there – Miami qualifying, Austria race – but these are trying times for him with a future to decide, a car which is inherently too understeery at low speeds and which pitches him off the track at random moments. The traits of that car are placing a false ceiling on what is still the best driver on the grid. So his performances aren’t quite matching that status.

Grade: B+

Isack Hadjar

He has not always had the latest parts, but when he has he’s very often been within a tenth or two of Max Verstappen and twice he’s actually out-qualified him. His self-belief in pitching himself – in his sophomore season – against Verstappen is impressive and the way it is inducing him to dig ever-deeper is even more so. He’s not yet a fully rounded world class performer but he has the makings of one, and for now he’s just putting all the pieces together while performing a strong support role for the team. He’s been a great signing of exciting potential.

Grade: B

Lando Norris

Some of the drives where he has prevented the Ferraris from doing their ideal strategy, in a McLaren just a little off pace, have been every bit as good as his victories of the last couple of years. He’s driving to a level worthy of the world champion – and he is qualifying faster than Oscar Piastri more often than before – but the McLaren has just not been quite there. When it briefly was – in the unusual tyre demands of the Miami sprint – he was dominant.

Grade: B+

Oscar Piastri

The highlights have been superb. The way he kept himself in contention with the Mercs and Max Verstappen in Austria for way longer than was reasonable was outstanding. But he’s dropped to McLaren’s support role a little too often this season for someone of his stature and clearly he’s not gelling as well with this McLaren as those of the last couple of years. It would be no surprise at all to see him make a Charles Leclerc/Silverstone-type breakthrough. But as of pre-Hungary, the consistency is not there so far.

Grade: B-

Pierre Gasly

Although his Alpine has been a patchy performer and his in particular had a difficult-to-trace problem for a few races, Pierre Gasly has been absolutely relentless in scoring the points, the highlight being the on/off/on again Monaco podium. He’s a potent combination of speed and experience and the team look to him for direction. Once his chassis problem was traced he reverted to being more than a match for team-mate Franco Colapinto on a regular basis and, although he may never again get the top team opportunity his half-season at Red Bull in 2019 represented, if the Enstone team develops he will go with it.

Grade: B+

Franco Colapinto

There have been regular flashes of good pace but neither the ’25 nor ’26 Alpines have dovetailed with the way he drives as well as the Williams in which he made such an impression as a rookie at tail end of ’24. When he gets the car into the sweet spot he can be as quick as Pierre Gasly, but the consistency is not there yet. His commitment on track is unquestionable – he pushes hard and fears no one (including Gasly!) – but the basic ability still needs further refinement. Will he be given enough time to achieve that by the man who gave him the opportunity, Flavio Briatore?

Grade: C+

Liam Lawson

Almost from the moment it was suggested there might not be room for him in the squad next year, Liam Lawson has impressively made himself look indispensable, consistently exploiting the sweet-handling Racing Bulls to be a regular Q3 qualifier and points scorer. He’s reinvented himself after the bruising two-race stint in the senior Red Bull team last year when he wasn’t given a fair crack of the whip, showing a steely determination despite the demotion. He races hard and isn’t the most popular with his peers, but that’s their problem as far as he’s concerned.

Grade: B

Arvid Lindblad

It’s a pity that Arvid Lindblad is the only rookie this year because even with a bigger crop to compare him with he’d have impressed. With a relatively limited experience base he made a sparkling debut in Melbourne – dicing with Lewis Hamilton for third on the opening lap – and has been consistently quick ever since, and a regular points scorer, keeping the more experienced Liam Lawson on his toes. It all seems very much under control.

Grade: B

Gabriel Bortoleto

In his second season he’s very much on a par with Nico Hülkenberg in both qualifying and race, which is a useful known quantity of a barometer. He’s methodical, bright, technical and has a good turn of speed. As such he’s one of those drivers who will likely just keep getting better. He’s put the Audi in Q3 a couple of times but his relatively sparse points tally is to do with the car’s poor startline performance more than anything else. When the Audi becomes quick expect him to be right there.

Grade: B

Nico Hülkenberg

Sixteen years in, he’s as good as he’s always been, quick and experienced, and capable of something extra in low-grip conditions – giving the team a great baseline. No points on the board yet but there’s less to that than meets the eye, merely a function of the iffy reliability and poor startline performance of the Audi. He’s the honorary inheritor of Chris Amon luck, as demonstrated by his retirement from the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix when gravel thrown up from the car ahead hit the Audi’s ignition kill switch.

Grade: B-

Oliver Bearman

The competitiveness of the Haas has fallen off significantly since the start of the season when it was competing with Racing Bulls and Alpines, but Ollie Bearman is dragging absolutely everything from it with a turn of speed that has left the experienced Esteban Ocon gasping. He’s accessing that speed every time in his second season and his seventh and fifth places in the first two races really flattered the car. He looks very much like the driver who went toe-to-toe with Kimi Antonelli as a team-mate in F2 and if there is no room at Ferrari for him in the next couple of years, it would be no surprise to see him at one of the other top teams instead.

Grade: A-

Esteban Ocon

It’s unfortunate for Esteban Ocon that he’s been paired with one of the outstanding talents of a later generation and it looks like that may be pointing towards the end of his F1 career as he seemingly has no answer to Ollie Bearman. With the Haas falling down the grid as bigger teams have developed more, so the gap between him and his team-mate has appeared even worse than it is because of the tightness of the midfield. He scored a good ninth at his happy hunting ground of Monaco, but a quarter-of-a-second and 10-3 down in qualifying (including sprints) spells trouble for his F1 future.

Grade: C+

Fernando Alonso

In a car which is effectively half-a-formula down on the others, there’s only so much even he can do. But there are occasional reminders of his still-formidable level – Q2 in the Canada sprint and a qualifying advantage over his team-mate bigger than it’s ever been in their four-year pairing. His opening laps in some of the early season races where he vaulted past car after car, but in the certain knowledge he’d be behind them again within a couple of laps, told of the spirit and the very special racecraft. It would be a travesty if he never again found a competitive car.

Grade: B-

Lance Stroll

Lance Stroll has never given the impression that he really enjoys being an F1 driver – at least out of the car – but this season the disappointment of the Aston-Honda seems to have left him more disillusioned than ever. It’s just not possible for a driver to deliver their best if that is their frame of mind and as such he’s not even accessing what he is capable of. This is a guy who took podiums and a pole position in the past, so he is not without talent. Hopefully a more competitive car in the future might reverse that disengagement.

Grade: C

Alex Albon

He’s not had the most straightforward of runs in the season’s first half, with a lot of technical glitches which have had an inevitable effect on his performances as he’s measured himself against Carlos Sainz. His big commitment style has then led to occasional incidents. Even though he was already long-established at Williams when Sainz arrived, it’s clear that he is not as effective at feeding into the system to get what he needs. He’s fast and capable of great performances but isn’t accessing as much of his potential as his team-mate.

Grade: C+

Carlos Sainz

In an uncompetitive Williams, Carlos Sainz has been outstanding this season. He consistently finds a way of decoding the puzzle formed by the car’s limitations, puts it on the line to place it in flattering grid slots (he even made Q3 for the Canada sprint) and often then conjures a point or two. He’s keeping Williams in play in the constructors’ to an extent the car’s pace does not warrant and finding a more consistent rhythm from it than team-mate Alex Albon. Williams may struggle to hold on to him.

Grade: A-

Sergio Pérez

He’s grasped his last-chance saloon with both hands and has been unquestionably the more effective Cadillac driver in the team’s first season. He’s integrated in a fully committed way to the project and is leading the direction. The car lacks downforce but its generally good balance is allowing him to give a great account of himself two years after his final bruising Red Bull season. If the team can progress over the next couple of years to be properly competing, then ‘Checo’ will be a great points-gathering machine, just as in his Force India days.

Grade: B-

Valtteri Bottas

Given that both Cadillac drivers arrived as experienced hands with a track record of multiple grand prix victories, it’s surprising that there has been such a distinct performance pattern between them – in Sergio Pérez’s favour. It’s difficult to pinpoint just where Valtteri Bottas is losing out, but it’s probably rooted in their respective working relationships with their engineers. At the time of writing, Bottas is over a quarter-second and 9-3 down in qualifying, though has scored the team’s best race result (13th place in China).

Grade: C