Monaco Lewis Hamilton

Many had written off Lewis Hamilton in F1 – too long in the tooth at 41, a poor fit with Ferrari, the rise of rivals, and so forth. While Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli was clocking up the wins, Hamilton was returning to brilliant form, securing another podium here at Monaco and edging out George Russell for second place in the drivers’ standings. Antonelli’s results thereafter faltered while Hamilton remained solid. Game on?

Barcelona-Catalunya George Russell, Lewis Hamilton & Lando Norris

Mercedes’ George Russell was on pole in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, while Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton earnt fastest lap. The finishing positions were Hamilton – with his first win since 2024 – Russell and Lando Norris. Last time there was an all-British podium? The 1968 US Grand Prix.

Austria Max Verstappen

Smile, though your heart is aching. However, the best driver on the grid might have been in better spirits after the sweltering Austrian race. A Red Bull upgrade in time for the team’s home grand prix allowed Max Verstappen to split the Mercedes pair with a second-place finish – his first podium of the season (less than 2sec separated the three). We’ve seen Verstappen second-half-of-the-season fightbacks before…

Australia McLaren MCL40

Round 1 of 2026 at Melbourne allowed us our first real glimpse of the new regulation cars after the smoke and mirrors of testing. Champions of ’25, McLaren, were off the pace and race fans of old were alarmed by the ‘enhanced’ style of competition caused by the boosts and battery drain. At the half-way mark of the season, McLaren’s MCL40 is yet to register a win.

Monaco Pierre Gasly

Alpine’s Frenchman has been doggedly picking up points this season, including the Monaco Grand Prix where he made the podium – his first since São Paulo in 2024. However, initially Gasly was served with a pair of 5sec penalties for speeding in the pitlane, meaning demotion to seventh. “Right now I’m just heartbroken,” Gasly commented. The decision was later overturned.

Spa-Francorchamps Oscar Piastri & Lewis Hamilton

Round 10 in Belgium – Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton are wheel-to-wheel at Eau Rouge. Hamilton’s early collision with George Russell could have a significant impact on the season. The Mercedes driver was out after a spin on the first lap, while team-mate Kimi Antonelli returned to winning ways, extending his championship lead. Piastri in an underperforming car finished 5th.

Miami Max Verstappen

Red Bull’s leading driver had been dropping significant hints of his disgruntlement with F1, going so far as to state its similarities to Formula E. Verstappen spun right at the start of the Miami round but would recover to a fifth-place finish. Two weeks later he’d use a break in the F1 schedule to make his Nürburgring 24 Hours debut.

Australia Fernando Alonso

The first F1 race that Fernando Alonso started was Melbourne in 2001. A quarter of a century later he was on the grid at the same track and if you remember back in March, there was a degree of expectation that the Spanish driver – whose last victory was the 2013 Spanish GP – might nick a win or two in Aston Martin’s Adrian Newey re-birth. He’d earn just one point from his first 10 races.

Great Britain Max Verstappen

In the midst of one of the hottest British summers since the dinosaurs roamed, Formula 1’s Round 9 arrived at Silverstone with high expectations for the British drivers – and wouldn’t a win for Lewis Hamilton be nice? Max Verstappen was hoping to be the party-pooper but spun towards the end of the race, leaving him more than 100 points off Kimi’s lead.

Spa-Francorchamps Kimi Antonelli

The Belgian Grand Prix trophy takes its inspiration from a Moët & Chandon champagne bottle… although to some it looks more like waste from a lathe. Kimi Antonelli won’t be complaining after winning the GP from pole, further strengthening his position at the summit of the standings. He’ll be getting used to the taste of bubbly…

Great Britain Lewis Hamilton

There’s no sunburn quite like a Silverstone sunburn – fans would need factor 50 for the dry and gusty conditions here in qualifying. Hamilton couldn’t match Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc’s pace but Hamilton was the quickest of the Brits, on the grid in third. In the race itself, just 0.7sec would separate first and third (Leclerc/Russell/Hamilton).

China George Russell

After winning the first round of the season in Melbourne, reality hit for George Russell just a week later when Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli won the Chinese GP – the beginning of a blistering run of five straight Formula 1 victories. After Shanghai, Russell still led the world championship standings and the widely held belief was that it was the British driver’s title to lose. As always, nothing’s certain in F1…