Edd Straw's F1 2026 Brazilian Grand Prix tier list driver rankings

A thrilling Brazilian Grand Prix in mixed conditions gave plenty of opportunities for Formula 1 drivers to produce heroics.

But who stood out, for the right and the wrong reasons?

Here's how the field stacked up on Edd Straw's new tier list Formula 1 driver rankings format.

As usual, you can ask your questions about Edd's rankings by commenting on this post in The Race Members' Club - and have a crack at compiling your own Brazilian GP tier list with our handy visual tool!

So strong was Verstappen's pace and incisive his overtaking in the early stages that McLaren team principal Andrea Stella described him as a "material threat" to eventual race winner Lando Norris.

As Verstappen was not responsible for starting on the back row, to surge through the field so cleanly - even if he did require some co-operation from his team-mate Isack Hadjar - to take second was another remarkable Interlagos performance to add to his collection.

And considering the pace drop-off in the car after the first pitstops, which he suggested might be down to damage, it's clear that once he was in second that was as good as it could have got. In that sense, it was a very tough mission accomplished - and it was effectively job done by half-distance.

Norris and Lawson combined tremendous speed with good execution across qualifying and the race, both effectively 'winning' their classes up front and in the midfield respectively.

Norris had a little help from Kimi Antonelli's spin in taking the lead, although that only hastened the exchange, but again showed that in wet conditions he has the technique, feel and finesse to produce Verstappen-like pace.

Lawson was never going to be able to hold onto his early second place, but bossed the midfield and was ultimately classified ahead of Charles Leclerc after his defence drew an error out of the Ferrari driver. He perhaps would have been close to the S-tier if he'd taken what he felt was a chance to qualify even higher.

As for Hadjar, while overall he wasn't as consistently brilliant as Verstappen he was close - and there were spells in the race when he was quickest on track.

This tier is a mixed bag, first of two drivers who had good, clean weekends without achieving anything spectacular.

As you'd expect from Alonso, he dragged good performance from the Aston Martin and was unlucky to pick up nose damage thanks to Ollie Bearman, while Oscar Piastri's Q2 exit was mitigated by "braking anomalies" and the fact that his race pace was better than the result suggests.

As for Hulkenberg, Bearman and Albon, all produced performance levels that would certainly have put them into the A tier, but small errors - penalties for Hulkenberg and Albon that have some mitigations, and Bearman's snap at Turn 3 on lap one that gave him rear damage from Alonso and led to a very slow first pitstop - nudge them down.

This group of five is very much in the middle of the pack. All avoided significant errors, but there were limitations to their weekends.

Bottas qualified well but a cross-threaded wheelnut denied him the opportunity to show what he could do in the race, with Perez having a decent weekend but not executing qualifying as well as his team-mate.

Lindblad had his moments but overall wasn't at Lawson's level, and missed a points opportunity, while the two Alpine drivers were saddled with a limited car - although Colapinto did show eye-catching pace on softs when the rain came, albeit with fresher tyres than some.

Antonelli looked destined to win the race after the early stages, but the weird handling behaviour of the Mercedes that was not fully explained meant his race quickly turned into disappointment. The spin that cost him the lead is a factor in being in this tier, as is the fact that he didn't appear to deal as well with the understandably baffling car behaviour as he might.

Leclerc cost himself a place with a robust touring-car pass on Lawson that was never going to stick, although you can argue he would never have been ahead had he not done that.

As for Stroll, his race was short-lived and he exited in Q1 without looking like following his team-mate through to the next phase of qualifying.

Mistakes abound in this tier. Camara was cursed with the most difficult of circumstances considering his late call-up for Haas and he showed flashes of impressive pace. However, his two offs in qualifying and untidy moments in the race have to count against him - although the situation saves him from the F tier, with a little help from the fact his soft-tyre pace in the race stacked up very respectably to Bearman.

Russell was unlucky not to get pole position and with a better rub of the green he could have been a victory threat, but his pit-exit spin is responsible for him being so low.

It's a similar story for Hamilton, whose baffling decision to disregard the pit call led to a very slow inlap and the spin, while Sainz is another who showed decent underlying pace but went off twice in qualifying and had a difficult race.

A single mistake, going off at Juncao and lightly hitting the barrier in Q1, ruined Bortoleto's chances.

Although he recovered to the pits, the damage meant he was eliminated and condemned to start down the order. That was unfortunate because he had the pace for a good result, but as Bortoleto himself told me after the race: "I was very quick, but that doesn't matter, at the end of the day, because you are starting from the back."