Edd Straw's 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix F1 driver rankings
The first half of the 2026 Formula 1 season finished with a Hungarian Grand Prix where the form book looked a little different to normal - and it's the same story with Edd Straw's driver rankings, albeit to an even more exaggerated extent.
Take a look at a surprising top-three order below, and which two of F1 2026's midfield overachievers ended up right at the bottom of the order.
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Champions-tier members can also try their hand at putting their own driver rankings together for Edd to react to in a separate feature!
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.
Pierre Gasly
Started: 12th Finished: 12th
PROS
- Given the pace of the Alpine, 12th place in qualifying, lapping 0.183s faster than team-mate Franco Colapinto, was as good as it was going to get.
- Executed the race well on what turned into a three-stopper thanks to his VSC pitstop opportunity.
- Finished behind only clearly faster cars, keeping the Aston Martins and the rest behind.
CONS
- The problems of the Alpine meant he couldn't drive naturally, but given he extracted what potential the car had there wasn't anything he could have done to change that.
Verdict: Maximised the Alpine package and had a clear advantage over his team-mate.
Nico Hulkenberg
Started: 10th Finished: 9th
PROS
- Showed good pace throughout practice and couldn't have qualified any higher in terms of position.
- Race speed meant he was a threat to Liam Lawson, and was able to split the Racing Bulls, albeit with Arvid Lindblad's one-stopper playing a part in that.
- Executed the weekend, qualifying in particular, better than Gabriel Bortoleto.
CONS
- Left perhaps a tenth on the table in Q3, although given the 0.4s gap to Lindblad there's no chance he could have challenged him for ninth on the grid.
- There might have been a way to finish a place higher, although Audi's lack of qualifying pace relative to Racing Bulls meant that would have required him to find a way past Lawson, so it's hardly a big negative.
Verdict: Close to the maximum of what was possible with the Audi.
Lando Norris
Started: 1st Finished: 1st
PROS
- Although he felt it "wasn't my finest" qualifying lap, in tricky conditions he put the McLaren ahead of two Ferraris that had a higher ceiling.
- Was impressively quick, a clear step ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri, and was mighty on heavily used hards at the end of his second stint.
- Even if he had not jumped Piastri in the second round of stops, it's possible he could have passed him on track.
CONS
- Ran off the road at Turn 4 while chasing Piastri in the second stint.
- Lost the lead on the opening lap.
- Needed the Piastri/Carlos Sainz collision to make sure he got ahead of his team-mate.
Verdict: Stunningly quick, but had a slice of fortune in the race.
Max Verstappen
Started: 4th Finished: 2nd
PROS
- Was the quicker Red Bull driver through the weekend, lapping 0.131s faster than Isack Hadjar in Q3.
- The opportunistic pass on Lewis Hamilton for third place was arguably the overtaking move of the season.
- Given the pace of the car, certainly couldn't have finished higher than he did and probably couldn't have been better than fourth on the grid.
CONS
- Spun on his final Q3 lap, although he was already slower than his first attempt and struggling with what he characterised as aerodynamic degradation.
- Struggled with the car, but this is hardly a big negative given his team-mate also did.
Verdict: Dragged the Red Bull to a better result than it deserved, but Q3 spin is a small blemish.
Oscar Piastri
Started: 3rd Finished: DNF
PROS
- Piastri's qualifying deficit of 0.477s to Norris was not representative given his final Q3 attempt was ruined by Hamilton being parked on the apex at Turn 1 - although he would still have been behind.
- Wasn't at fault for the contact with Sainz, as there was a reasonable expectation that he would not be driven into.
- Given Piastri's pace deficit, to make the pass at Turn 2 on the opening lap then lead for the first couple of stints before Sainz hit him was a masterclass in making the best of a difficult situation.
CONS
- Struggled to get on top of the McLaren, with the mitigating factor that he sat out FP1 for rookie Leonardo Fornaroli and didn't get the McLaren floor upgrade until Saturday.
- Simply did not have Norris's pace, which meant he was more threatened by the overcut than he should have been.
Verdict: Hauling yourself into a potential winning position while struggling for pace takes a rare kind of magic.
Fernando Alonso
Started: 16th Finished: 14th
PROS
- Acclimatised well to the dramatically overhauled Aston Martin and did a good job to reach Q2.
- The improvements to the car at least meant Alonso was able to show his competitive edge after spending recent races with nothing to fight for.
- Defeat to Lance Stroll in the race was largely down to strategy, in particular his marathon 34-lap opening stint on softs.
CONS
- Left perhaps a fraction on the table in Q2 with an over-aggressive Turn 13, perhaps enough to have pipped Esteban Ocon.
- Had a pace advantage in the final stint, but ran out of time to catch Stroll.
Verdict: Made the most of the improved Aston Martin, which finally let him go racing.
Esteban Ocon
Started: 15th Finished: 16th
PROS
- Parts changes, and the switch to a new steering rack that gave him improved feel, meant that he was delighted with the consistency of the car, which was reflected in his performance.
- Outqualified Ollie Bearman by 0.223s and put what was the eight-fastest car 15th in qualifying, which was realistically as high as it was going to get.
- A good first lap meant he ran 12th in the early laps, before being shuffled back.
CONS
- Advantage over Bearman was partly down to Bearman having problem parts, but Ocon's been on the wrong side of that more often than not.
- Had an off-track moment at the first corner after an overly aggressive around-the-outside attempt to gain more ground.
Verdict: At one with the car for the first time in a while and reminded everyone what he can do.
Liam Lawson
Started: 11th Finished: 8th
PROS
- Decisive dive on Lindblad at the first corner meant he got himself to the front of the midfield and was able to stay there.
- Did a good job to catch and clear one-stopping Bortoleto and Lindblad to make sure of eighth place.
CONS
- Described Q2 as "terribly executed", with a lockup on his first lap then a "really bad" second attempt that meant he failed to make Q3 and qualified behind the slower Audi of Hulkenberg.
Verdict: Although he recovered in the race, Q2 underachievement counts against him.
Arvid Lindblad
Started: 9th Finished: 10th
PROS
- Showed good pace and got the best-possible qualifying position, even if he did feel he left a little time on the table in Q3.
- Executed a one-stopper well, even though it inevitably cost him a position to Hulkenberg having run ahead of him initially.
CONS
- Slipped behind his team-mate to a first-corner move, which ultimately cost him two places in the final result because it put him on the wrong side of the one/two-stop split Racing Bulls opted for.
Verdict: Qualifying was strong, the race decent but was ultimately one in which he could have finished eighth.
Valtteri Bottas
Started: 21st Finished: DNF
PROS
- Of the five drivers who sat out FP1 to allow rookies to drive, Bottas was the one who dealt best with the loss of track time.
- Had the intra-team advantage over Sergio Perez throughout the weekend.
- Brake overheating problem was down to problems outside of his control.
CONS
- Perez's problems make a fair comparison with his team-mate inconclusive.
- Cadillac being cast adrift at the back meant he had little to race for.
Verdict: Difficult to benchmark him, but showed good pace and execution.
Kimi Antonelli
Started: 7th Finished: 3rd
PROS
- Once again had the measure of George Russell in terms of pace throughout the weekend.
- Drove a decent race, although climbing from seventh to third was largely thanks to Russell's disastrous start, Ferrari floundering, and Piastri's retirement.
CONS
- The way he tried to deal with the yellow flag for Verstappen showed he had learned from what happened in Austria, but his execution - lifting early but then being 3km/h faster than previously when he passed the spun car - wasn't quite right.
- Attempted one stopper didn't work, as the wear rate meant he'd have come up short.
Verdict: Yellow flag misjudgement counts against him.
Charles Leclerc
Started: 2nd Finished: 4th
PROS
- While he wasn't as quick as Hamilton, he did have a cleaner weekend overall.
- Did what he could on a strategy that wasn't ideal.
CONS
- Was the slower Ferrari driver.
- Seemed not to deal well with the patches of relayed asphalt at Turn 1 and Turn 12, which consistently cost him time in qualifying.
- Dropped three places at the start, but that was largely down to the team misjudging the grip available on the dirty side of the grid.
Verdict: Slower than Hamilton, but ahead because of his team-mate's errors.
Isack Hadjar
Started: 8th Finished: 6th
PROS
- Although he wasn't satisfied with Q3, lapping 0.131s off Verstappen was a decent effort.
- Drove two good race stints once onto the hards.
- Kept Russell at arm's length in the closing stages.
CONS
- Struggled in the first stint with degradation on mediums, which meant the pace delta to Verstappen was significant.
- Ultimately, the fact he finished sixth in a car that Verstappen took second place in shows there was more performance to extract.
Verdict: A solid weekend in tricky circumstances, but not at Verstappen's level.
George Russell
Started: 6th Finished: 7th
PROS
- Recovered well from dropping to 21st in the race, and it's unlikely he could have done much more.
- Was unfortunate to have the cracked sump in qualifying that led to water being fired onto his tyres, ruining his final qualifying lap.
CONS
- Although he had a part in the car slipping into anti-stall at the start, the team took most of the responsibility.
- Didn't have Antonelli's pace, despite there being no deployment troubles this weekend.
Verdict: Had plenty of misfortune, but again a step behind Antonelli.
Alexander Albon
Started: 19th Finished: 17th
PROS
- Made good progress through Friday, including making gains with suspension set-up, and initially had the edge on Sainz in terms of pace.
- Drove a good, clean race in difficult circumstances given the car's erratic behaviour, suggesting there were only six laps when the wind stabilised and he could push.
CONS
- Was marginally the slower Williams driver in qualifying, albeit by just 0.037s.
- Forced to "underdrive" because of the inconsistencies of the Williams that impacted both drivers.
Verdict: Fundamentally limited by the problems of the Williams that made driving more about survival than pushing.
Lance Stroll
Started: 20th Finished: 13th
PROS
- A mitigating factor is that he lost much of Friday practice to the rear-left suspension failure that struck in FP1, meaning he had only 31 practice laps in total compared to Alonso's 61.
- His underlying pace was better than the 0.533s gap to Alonso in qualifying suggests.
- Drove a good race and managed to keep the rapidly-closing Alonso behind in the final stint.
CONS
- A tailwind approaching Turn 12, combined with braking too late, ruined his final qualifying lap, and as before that error he was around a tenth-and-a-half slower than Alonso's Q1 lap it's unlikely he would have made Q2.
- Strategy allowed him to beat Alonso, who did have a slight pace advantage.
Verdict: Not quite at Alonso's level, but had a solid, clean weekend.
Sergio Perez
Started: 22nd (pits) Finished: DNF
PROS
- Suspension failure that eliminated him from the race, and general car troubles, weren't down to anything Perez did wrong.
- No self-inflicted errors on a difficult weekend.
CONS
- Struggled with the car, particularly in the high-speed corners, although suspension set-up changes were made in parc ferme, forcing a pitlane start, to tackle this.
- Lacked pace compared to Bottas in qualifying and race conditions, but with evidence of car troubles.
Verdict: Factors outside of his control made this a wasted weekend on which he didn't have the chance to impress.
Lewis Hamilton
Started: 5th Finished: 5th
PROS
- Had the edge over Leclerc on single-lap pace, beating him by 0.226s despite a difficult Q3.
- Overall, he had higher potential than Leclerc and would likely still have been on the podium but for taking the late pitstop.
CONS
- While impeding Piastri at the end of Q3 was largely down to the pitwall's poor communication, and he told stewards he couldn't see the McLaren in his mirrors, there's always something the driver could have done to avoid such a mistake.
- Although his pitlane speeding violation was by the tiniest of margins, it was ultimately down to him releasing the speed limiter a fraction earlier than he should have done.
- Was caught napping by Verstappen at Turn 1 after gaining the position in the pitstops.
Verdict: Good pace, but made several errors that cost him a much better result.
Gabriel Bortoleto
Started: 14th Finished: 11th
PROS
- His underlying pace was good enough to have been in the top 10 in qualifying and the race.
- Made a good fist of trying to hang onto a points position having made gains to a one-stopper, before slipping to 11th with 11 laps remaining.
CONS
- Qualifying got away from him in Q2, and while on the first run that was because of the yellow flag caused by Hadjar's spin, on the final run he made errors.
- Floor damage contributed to that poor final Q2 run, but it was caused by his wide moment at Turn 4 on the first lap of that segment.
- Time lost behind Ocon in the early laps made his race more difficult, although the Audi's start troubles contributed to that situation.
Verdict: Poor Q2 swung the weekend against him and ultimately cost him points.
Franco Colapinto
Started: 13th Finished: 15th
PROS
- Missing FP1 is a mitigating factor in his struggles.
- After lap-one error, had a clean race, just not an especially quick one, on his way to finishing behind the Aston Martins.
CONS
- Turn 14 crash on only his fourth push lap of the weekend in FP2 was doubly costly given he sat out FP1 for Paul Aron.
- Middle-sector struggles were responsible for much of the 0.183s gap to Gasly in qualifying.
- First-lap off at Turn 4 cost him two places and was the main reason for the divergence between his and Gasly's races.
Verdict: A step behind Gasly, which combined with practice crash and lap-one off added up to a disappointing weekend.
Carlos Sainz
Started: 18th Finished: 18th
PROS
- Turned around his weekend well after struggling in practice, particularly with a gearbox-related rear end problem, to shade Albon in qualifying.
- Pace in the race was strong relative to the machinery, and he would have finished higher but for the penalty for the Piastri collision and what he called an "unnecessary" third pitstop.
CONS
- While there were mitigating factors in the blue flag system problems and the fact he was battling with Alonso, clattering into Piastri - then continuing to hold him up for several more corners - was a blunder that also compromised his finishing position thanks to the resulting penalty.
- There was a little more pace in the car in qualifying, although extracting it would have been difficult given how inconsistent both Williams drivers found the machinery.
Verdict: Pace was good, but the Piastri collision was careless and led to his race result being compromised.
Ollie Bearman
Started: 17th Finished: 19th
PROS
- By way of mitigation, missing FP1 and practice troubles meant he only logged 42 laps before qualifying, the third-lowest tally in the field.
- Being on the wrong side of Haas's parts inconsistency made the weekend one of survival, which he at least achieved.
CONS
- Spin at Turn 2 and penalty for ignoring blue flags, albeit with the mitigation of system problems that caused blue-flag confusion, compromised his race.
- Lacked pace relative to Ocon, but given he described the car as a "nightmare" this was down to the machinery.
Verdict: Car troubles explain lack of pace, but the race errors count against him.
