Edd Straw's 2026 Australian Grand Prix F1 driver rankings

Chaotic and unpredictable at its best, and underwhelming at its worst, the Australian Grand Prix and the start of the new Formula 1 rules era was divisive even among those who were racing in it.

Setting those sentiments aside, who strung together the best weekend in Melbourne?

Here's Edd Straw's first ranking of the 2026 F1 season.

How do the rankings work? The 22 drivers will be ranked in order of performance from best to worst on each grand prix weekend. This will be based on the full range of criteria, ranging from pace and racecraft to consistency and whether they made key mistakes. How close each driver got to delivering on the maximum performance potential of the car will be an essential consideration.

It’s important to note both that this reflects performance across the entire weekend, cognisant of the fact that qualifying is effectively 'lap 0' of the race and key to laying the foundations to the race, and that it is not a ranking of the all-round qualities of each driver. It's simply about how they performed on a given weekend. Therefore, the ranking will fluctuate significantly from weekend to weekend.

And with each of the 11 cars fundamentally having different performance potential and 'luck' (ie factors outside of a driver's control) contributing to the way the weekend plays out, this ranking will also differ significantly from the overall results.

Started: 9th Finished: 8th

The 18-year-old looked supremely assured on his F1 debut.

He was on course to outqualify Racing Bulls team-mate Liam Lawson, only for what was described as a "minor control issue", which the team apologised for, to ruin his final Q3 lap. Without that, there's every chance he'd have had a tenth or two over Lawson.

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He passed Kimi Antonelli, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton out of Turn 2 on the run to Turn 3 and later got ahead of Isack Hadjar, too, to briefly hold third before inevitably being shuffled back. His real battle was with Ollie Bearman, who was on an identical strategy and only got ahead on lap 41 of 58.

Lindblad's pace deficit after that suggested the Haas ultimately had the edge, but he managed to keep Gabriel Bortoleto on younger tyres behind. His ranking factors in that this was an unusually strong debut weekend.

Verdict: Superb start to his F1 career.

Started: 1st Finished: 1st

The Mercedes package was undoubtedly the class of the field, which made it look easy for George Russell. But it's important not to overlook his contribution both in delivering a finely honed driving technique to suit the energy demands and the smoothness and confidence he exuded behind the wheel.

Pole position was never in doubt but his "horrendous start" thanks to unexpectedly lacking battery energy at the start meant he fell behind Charles Leclerc. He was unable to make a move that stuck in the early stages, with the lock-up at Turn 1 on one of the occasions he briefly passed the Ferrari a negative, but once strategies diverged he managed the race with consummate ease.

The fact the Leclerc battle was resolved by strategy means Russell misses out on top spot.

Verdict: Only early-laps battle with Leclerc interrupted his serene progress.

Started: 4th Finished: 3rd

Given Ferrari didn't execute qualifying as well as it should have done and the slender margin to Hadjar, it's probably fair to say that Leclerc should have been a place higher on the grid. Plus, it was closer between him and team-mate Hamilton than the two-tenth advantage in qualifying suggested.

However, there's no doubt that Leclerc was quick and his leap into the lead was not purely down to the Ferrari's sharpness off the line. He also out-thought Russell in their early-race battle before the strategies diverged. But however the race played out strategically, third was probably the maximum for Ferrari.

Verdict: Outstanding in the early laps of the race.

Started: 7th Finished: 4th

It would be premature to conclude definitively that Hamilton is much more at home in this new generation of F1 cars and will have a far stronger season than last year, but the evidence of Melbourne is promising.

He looked to have the pace to push or even beat Leclerc in qualifying, but Ferrari's struggles on Saturday meant he ended up two tenths and three positions behind. His race drive was a strong one and he closed up on Leclerc at a rate of a quarter of a second per lap in the final stint having made his pitstop to switch to mediums three laps later than his team-mate.

Verdict: A promising start to 2026.

Started: 12th Finished: 7th

While it was a bit of an uphill struggle on Friday and Saturday, particularly when it came to getting everything in the right window to nail a qualifying lap and he was only just outside the dropzone in Q1, the pace of the Haas shone through in Bearman's hands in the race.

It took him a long time to get past Lindblad, but once he did he pulled away at three-and-a-half tenths per lap and took a comfortable midfield 'victory'.

Verdict: Imperfect Saturday, ideal Sunday.

Started: 20th Finished: 6th

All the available evidence points to the fact that Max Verstappen couldn't have done anything to avoid the Q1 crash caused by a confluence of problems related to energy recovery that spat him into a sudden spin. This means Verstappen can only be judged on the rest of his weekend.

He had the pace edge over Hadjar, albeit not anything like as large as he often has over his Red Bull team-mates, and executed a good, clean drive from the back of the grid to take sixth. Graining troubles meant he two-stopped, but even fresher rubber didn't prevent him slipping back from Lando Norris across the final 10 laps.

Verdict: Scything into the points in eight laps was the highlight.

Started: 6th Finished: 5th

Norris felt he was on the back foot after missing most of FP1 thanks to a "transmission control issue", which he felt was unusually costly thanks to the steep learning curve with these new cars. That was perhaps reflected in him ending up 0.120s behind McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in qualifying after a lap on which he appeared to have slightly different deployment characteristics.

He didn't have to worry about his team-mate in the race, and prevailed in what turned into a battle with Verstappen having struggled with graining and ending up on a two-stopper. It looked at one stage like he'd lose that fight, but ultimately prevailed.

Verdict: Fifth was as good as a McLaren could achieve.

Started: 10th Finished: 9th

Bortoleto seemed to have a slight underlying pace advantage over Audi team-mate Nico Hulkenberg through the weekend, with his commitment into Turn 1 on his final Q2 lap helping ensure it was him who made Q3, even though he was unable to run.

He had to work hard in the race, particularly given he ran a two-stop strategy that demanded an attacking final stint. Perhaps had that been executed perfectly, that could have allowed him to beat Lindblad to eighth?

All in all, this was a good, strong start to his second season and ensured he's on the front foot against his team-mate.

Verdict: Led the Audi charge.

Started: 14th Finished: 10th

Alpine's struggles with high-speed understeer that proved costly in qualifying, and the general lack of grip and amount of sliding around, meant qualifying was a disappointment for Pierre Gasly.

That at least translated into better race pace, which he turned into a point for 10th after a race-long battle with old rival Esteban Ocon. The contact with Ocon gave him front wing and floor damage, which made things more difficult, meaning that Gasly had to work hard to salvage something from a difficult weekend for the team.

Verdict: A dogged points-scoring race drive in a tricky car.

Started: 3rd Finished: DNF

Qualifying didn't offer the opportunity to make a definitive comparison to Verstappen, and outpacing his team-mate in FP3 was clouded by the differing deployment strategies of the two Red Bulls, but Hadjar's Melbourne performance was encouraging for the team's hopes of finally finding a strong enough team-mate for Verstappen.

He probably overachieved in qualifying given the Ferraris and McLarens perhaps should have beaten him, and while hanging onto a podium position was always unlikely he never had a chance to test that given an engine problem that set in immediately and soon put him out.

Verdict: Showed he isn't going to drown alongside Verstappen.

Started: 2nd Finished: 2nd

The key numbers - second in qualifying and the race, three tenths and three seconds behind respectively - suggest Antonelli did a good, solid number two job in Australia. But there was more to it than that, both for good and bad.

The negative is his shunt at Turn 2 in FP3 after running a little too deep and unsettling the car over the kerb, which did significant damage that would have kept him out of qualifying but for the red flag delay for Verstappen's crash giving Mercedes just enough time to get him out in Q1. However, it also meant he had to qualify with a car that had not been properly set up, which makes putting it second on the grid an impressive achievement.

He recovered quickly from a slow start in the race and didn't put a foot wrong on his way to completing a Mercedes 1-2.

Verdict: Recovered well but FP3 shunt damages his ranking significantly.

Started: 17th Finished: DNF

Even among Aston Martin's endless problems, Fernando Alonso had moments where his class shone through. He was the driver who managed to deliver what performance the car actually had, as well as making a good start to gain seven places and improbably spend a couple of laps in the points.

That showed he was in no mood to be conservative, doubly so given the way he squeezed past Bortoleto on the approach to Turn 3 on the opening lap. He was never going to finish, spending 16 minutes in the pits on his way to a DNF.

Verdict: Showed flashes of class when it was possible.

Started: 15th Finished: 12th

Alex Albon had a smaller slice of the problems that plagued Williams during the weekend, but that still didn't make for very promising circumstances. Reaching Q2 and then finishing 12th was the limit of what was possible for what was very much the ninth-best car and well off the main midfield group.

He had to deal with front graining problems along the way, and briefly fell behind team-mate Carlos Sainz, but while there was limited opportunity to impress in the Williams there's no question he had a decent weekend behind the wheel.

Verdict: Effective, but in enforced anonymity.

Started: 18th Finished: 16th

He outqualified Cadillac team-mate Valtteri Bottas, finished the race, and did battle with midfield runners when he had the chance. That added up to a decent weekend for Perez, even though it was unclear how much of his Saturday advantage was down to deployment advantages outside of his hands.

Given the amount of problems and the ongoing troubleshooting that Cadillac inevitably faced, he did what he was there to do even if his robust, but legal, defence against Lawson led to a stewards' investigation that yielded no penalty.

Verdict: Showed he's lost nothing in his year away.

Started: 8th Finished: 13th

It was something of a surprise to see Lawson pushed so hard by rookie Racing Bulls team-mate Lindblad, who looked on course to shade him in qualifying only to have a problem on his final run. That allowed Lawson, who had done a good job to reach Q3, a clear run to outpace Lindblad.

His terrible start was caused by a lack of power, and although it's unclear exactly what caused this he gets the benefit of the doubt as there's no indication that he did anything wrong. From there, he was up against it in the race.

Verdict: Decent, but Lindblad's pace will have caught his attention.

Started: 11th Finished: DNS

Did a tidy job through practice and qualifying, although more often than not seemed to lack the edge of pace of Audi team-mate Bortoleto. That was reflected in a one-tenth deficit in qualifying after a conservative approach to the first corner on his final Q2 lap.

Given the Audi's good pace, he should have been well-placed for a run at the points, but was unable to start after losing telemetry and a related loss of power on a reconnaissance lap. Attempts to cure the underlying problem failed, so he didn't race.

That lost opportunity limits his potential to achieve a higher ranking.

Verdict: A solid but truncated weekend.

Started: 13th Finished: 11th

Things seemed to get away from Ocon as the weekend progressed after a decent start on Friday, notably in qualifying where the apparently sudden onset of rear-end instability meant he was struggling by the time he got to his final Q2 run. That meant a 0.224s deficit to Haas team-mate Bearman.

The trend continued in the race as after a good start to run eighth he struggled with a car that was "oversteery everywhere, on all the entry phases". The team revealed no specific problem, suggesting it may have been more about a lack of confidence with that level of instability, but the upshot was he faded to finish out of the points having lost out in the congested battle for the minor points.

Verdict: His weekend started well but gradually got worse.

Started: 21st Finished: 15th

Sainz's poor ranking is primarily a reflection of the lack of opportunity given he had problems during practice that limited running, didn't get to participate in qualifying, and had a front wing problem during the race.

This makes it impossible to make a fair comparison of his performance relative to Albon, although he did briefly run ahead of his Williams team-mate during the race.

Verdict: Little opportunity to impress given Williams's troubles.

Started: 19th Finished: DNF

While he was the slower Cadillac driver in qualifying by a margin of just under eight tenths, that was distorted by unexpected de-rating that cost him significant time having been marginally ahead of Perez earlier in the lap.

Clutch problems forced a steering wheel swap under the first virtual safety car, but shortly afterwards Bottas caused the second VSC when he was ordered to shut the car down after what appeared to be a power unit-related problem struck and parked at the pit entry.

Verdict: Did the solid, professional job Cadillac required.

Started: 16th Finished: 14th

Franco Colapinto suffered both from Alpine's unexpected struggles, which wasn't within his control, and also his own difficulty in matching his team-mate's pace. That said, the 0.955s gap to Gasly in qualifying was not representative and he likely would have only been a few tenths down but for a baffling absence of rear grip on his final run in Q2.

A stop/go penalty that was not of his making meant there was never any chance of a result and his pace was solid but unspectacular. However, he did produce arguably the most spectacular moment of the race by somehow avoiding Lawson's stuttering Racing Bulls car at the start.

Verdict: An unremarkable start to the season.

Started: 22nd Finished: Not classified

Lance Stroll summed up his weekend well when he said "racing's a strong word, we circulated".

Given he managed only 16 laps prior to the race, and none at all on Saturday, there's very little that he can fairly be judged on. However, he did enough to be given a ranking, even if the car gave him little opportunity to progress.

It seemed his underlying pace wasn't as strong as Aston Martin team-mate Alonso's, although the car troubles mean that's of limited meaning, and although after starting on mediums he didn't replicate Alonso's first-lap heroics he was at least able to take the chequered flag without being classified thanks to an 18-minute stay in the pits.

Verdict: Ranking reflects absence of opportunity.

Started: 5th Finished: DNS

Piastri had the edge in the battle between the McLaren drivers. He outpaced Norris by 0.120s and was seemingly somewhat more in tune with the energy-management demands of driving technique, albeit with the caveat that his team-mate complained of the disadvantage of problems in FP1 and deployment troubles.

That work was undone by the inexcusable shunt on a reconnaissance lap before the race. While he was clearly distracted by the battery behaviour and caught out by the unexpected delivery of an extra 100kW, driver error was a big part of losing it at the exit of Turn 4 and firing the car into the wall.

As he put it, "there was certainly a big element of it that was me".

Verdict: Pre-race shunt tanks ranking, even with partial mitigation.