Edd Straw's 2026 Spanish Grand Prix F1 driver rankings

The inaugural Formula 1 race at the Madring was no classic - but the Spanish Grand Prix weekend as a whole did seriously test the grid.

Here's who passed with flying colours, and who was found wanting...

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Started: 1st Finished: 3rd

PROS
- Put in a mighty qualifying lap to take an unexpected pole position in what McLaren is certain wasn't the fastest car.
- Held onto the lead at the start despite the lower grip level in the pole position grid box compared to second place, and built a healthy lead in the early stages.
- Would have won without the virtual safety car being perfectly-timed to cost him the lead as he was the fastest in race conditions.

CONS
- The rear stepping out at the last corner cost him three tenths in Q3, and denied him a potential all-time great qualifying lap. That was down to him misjudging how much his mighty lap up to then impacted tyre condition, but shows he didn't deliver the maximum possible.
- Couldn't get past Verstappen in the closing stages. But considering how difficult overtaking was for everyone and how difficult Verstappen is to pass generally, that's not something he could have done much about.

Verdict: Only bad luck cost him victory.

Started: 9th Finished: 7th

PROS
- Recovered from an alarming moment in La Monumental on his first Q2 run to put in a superb lap on his last run, "one of the best I've done", to top the midfield and reach Q3, outpacing team-mate Pierre Gasly.
- Achieved the best-possible qualifying position for an Alpine by defeating Arvid Lindblad in Q3.
- Drove a strong race to head the midfield pack, and overachieved by one place by holding off Oscar Piastri.

CONS
- Left a fraction on the table in Q3 and was the driver with the biggest deficit to his theoretical best lap at 0.204s. Not that it made any difference to his position.
- Had he been able to pass Gabriel Bortoleto, then Liam Lawson was beatable but given the overtaking challenge that's not a big negative.

Verdict: Probably his best through-weekend execution in F1.

Started: 13th Finished: 11th

PROS
- Put in a good qualifying effort on his final Q2 lap, with the three-tenths gap to Bortoleto suggesting that in qualifying conditions the Haas wasn't quite at the level of the Audi.
- Made a characteristically good start and jumped to 11th ahead of the Audis, which put him 10th once Lewis Hamilton retired early.
- But for losing a place to Nico Hulkenberg in the VSC pitstops due to Haas's pit equipment not being as advanced as Audi's, he would almost certainly have scored a point.

CONS
- Ollie Bearman's self-inflicted absence from qualifying and poor grid position make comparisons difficult, but there's nothing to suggest Ocon was leaving any significant laptime on the table.

Verdict: A well-executed weekend that merited a points finish in probably the eighth-best car.

Started: 3rd Finished: 2nd

PROS
- While the Red Bull was stronger in qualifying conditions than on race pace, he got close to the maximum out of the car on Saturday - even if, as for most, there was maybe a little left on the table.
- Even on a track where passing is difficult, did a good job to keep Norris behind.
- While luck assisted him in the path to second, even if he'd stayed in third without jumping Norris it would have probably been about as much as was possible.

CONS
- Given the first-corner move was always likely to lead to a chicane cut, you can argue that this led to him being behind Antonelli, who was the other beneficiary of Verstappen having to let Hamilton past.

Verdict: Largely made the most of the Red Bull.

Started: 2nd Finished: 1st

PROS
- Was clearly the faster Mercedes driver, with his pace advantage over George Russell clear-cut.
- The vast majority of his race was well-executed, showing patience when holding position while long-running Leclerc led.

CONS
- Needed luck on his side to win, as this gave him track position over Verstappen and Norris.
- The frenetic first lap featured track cuts at Turn 1 and Turn 5, which led to him being shuffled back to third.

Verdict: No question about his pace, but a little untidiness.

Started: 5th Finished: 4th

PROS
- Despite the self-inflicted disadvantage of having to run some old-spec power unit components as a result of his Monza crash, he was just 0.005s down on Hamilton in qualifying.
- Drove a good, clean race and did what he could in his lengthy hard stint, although ultimately the car pace meant that he was always likely to finish fourth once Hamilton had retired.

CONS
- Probably left a little pace on the table in qualifying, particularly early in the lap owing to the prep laps not being perfectly executed, but as he put it, still delivered "quite a clean lap" albeit with "a few moments here and there".

Verdict: No major negatives, but still didn't look at his absolute best.

Started: 18th Finished: DNF

PROS
- While the huge advantage over Valtteri Bottas was inflated by his team-mate being impeded by Carlos Sainz on his final lap, Perez always looked destined to be the faster Cadillac in qualifying. And he executed well, with a strong final lap.
- Drove a strong race before a water leak in the power unit led to him first slowing then retiring, having gained places to the Turn 1 incident then chased Alex Albon.

CONS
- The only real downside is that he didn't have the chance to run the second half of the race, which wasn't his fault.

Verdict: A strong weekend when he was the quicker Cadillac driver.

Started: 16th Finished: 15th

PROS
- Recovered superbly from practice troubles and his FP3 mistake to put in a strong Q1 lap. Although the advantage over Sainz was infinitesimal at 0.005s, that was a big step forward.
- Williams didn't have the pace to have done any better than 16th in qualifying, especially given Albon didn't have a fresh set of softs left for Q2.
- Drove a good race in a car that didn't have the pace to do any better.

CONS
- Struggled on Friday with deployment problems that put him on the back foot and well off Sainz's pace.
- Clipping the wall early in FP3 cost him important running.

Verdict: A strong weekend, with the FP3 wall-clip the one negative.

Started: 17th Finished: 17th

PROS
- Always looked like the faster Aston Martin driver throughout the weekend.
- Was able to show the strength of the car in certain corners, which was offset by time lost on the straights.
- Battled on to the finish despite deployment troubles and a front wing change after being hit by Sainz.

CONS
- He was a tenth and a half off his personal best in sector three on his final lap, which was sufficient to swing the battle for Q2 with Albon against him.
- Race problems meant he was compromised, losing significant race time.

Verdict: A decent weekend, but perhaps could have got the Aston Martin into Q2.

Started: 4th Finished: DNF

PROS
- While qualifying wasn't maximised, it still represented a decent recovery after his FP3 off cost him his simulation.
- Probably had the stronger underlying pace of the Ferrari drivers, although didn't make the most of it.

CONS
- Crash in FP3 cost him half of that session and his qualifying simulation run, despite his best efforts to get back to the pits against the team's instructions.
- Didn't make the most of qualifying with a small error early in the lap that cost him time.

Verdict: Had the pace to achieve more, but compromised Saturday then brake misfortune meant he didn't show it.

Started: 10th Finished: 9th

PROS
- Showed strong pace on Friday before his crash, but despite admitting to still being down on confidence in qualifying he made Q3.
- Ran ahead of Piastri in the first stint after jumping him on the opening lap.
- Managed to hold off Hulkenberg late on.

CONS
- FP2 crash at Turn 13 when the rear end gave up immediately on turn-in cost him some running on a day when he was quick, with a hangover that led to him not joining FP3 until the closing stages.
- Couldn't hold Piastri off after the McLaren driver had made his pitstop, but considering the advantage of fresh mediums there's no disgrace in that.

Verdict: FP2 crash had significant consequences, but Lindblad recovered well.

Started: 11th Finished: 10th

PROS
- Won the battle of imperfect execution with his team-mate in Q2 by 0.165s.
- Made the most of starting on softs and the timing of the VSC to take a point.
- Was the slightly better Audi driver when everything is taken into account.

CONS
- There might have been a way to get past Lindblad late on, but hardly a big negative considering the difficulty of passing.
- Didn't make the most of the car in qualifying, as slipping into Q3 was possible.

Verdict: A solid weekend's work, putting the Audi broadly where it should have been.

Started: 8th Finished: 6th

PROS
- Made an important pass on Colapinto early on, albeit having lost the place at the start.
- Stayed out on hards under the VSC, and made that strategy work decently to capitalise on Bortoleto holding up Colapinto to finish ahead of him.

CONS
- Again struggled to follow Verstappen's pace steps as qualifying progressed, ending up a respectable but disappointed 0.352s down.
- With the caveat that it's only his third outing in the Red Bull, he was very much in the group of top-team second drivers as defined by pace.

Verdict: Solid but unspectacular, with an unobtrusively effective race drive.

Started: 6th Finished: 5th

PROS
- Was one of the few drivers to make a successful overtaking move by passing Lawson after he made his second pitstop.
- Had a clean weekend and was on the wrong side of the VSC in terms of having started on the hard tyres - although that was a deliberate choice to open up the possibility of staying out if there was an early interruption. This was closed off when Leclerc ahead did the same thing, leading to Russell stopping and then, thanks to the mediums not having the range, having to make a second pitstop.

CONS
- There was no hint of him being at Antonelli's level throughout the weekend.
- Asked a little too much of the tyres at Turn 11 on his final Q3 lap, which cost him time but he was already gradually slipping back from Antonelli prior to that.

Verdict: A step back from Antonelli in terms of pace.

Started: 7th Finished: 8th

PROS
- Wasn't at fault for the front-wing damage on the opening lap that compromised his race.
- Managed to pass Lindblad after making his pitstop, having run the hard/medium strategy without a VSC stop.

CONS
- Simply wasn't at Norris's level in terms of pace.
- Couldn't find a way past Colapinto in the closing stages.

Verdict: A lacklustre weekend.

Started: 12th Finished: 13th

PROS
- Drove a tidy long stint on hards, keeping the quicker Colapinto behind him.
- Was unlucky with the VSC timing given he had started on hards.

CONS
- Wasn't at his best in qualifying, admitting he didn't extract the maximum from the car with being a little too conservative into Turn 1 putting him on the back foot versus Hulkenberg.
- Poor start dropped him down to 15th, but that's mitigated by the fact he was on hard Pirellis.

Verdict: A middling weekend, marginally worse than Hulkenberg's.

Started: 14th Finished: 12th

PROS
- Showed good pace in the race, but the timing of the VSC meant he stayed out on hards and that didn't allow him to translate it into points.
- His underlying speed was, save for when it really mattered in qualifying, where you'd expect it to be.

CONS
- Lacklustre in qualifying, expressing bafflement at a car that felt good in FP3 struggling for grip in qualifying thanks to poor tyre prep on the outlap.
- Picked up a five-second penalty added at the end of the race for speeding in the pits, which was needless although it only cost him time, not a position.

Verdict: Poor qualifying defined his weekend.

Started: 19th Finished: 18th

PROS
- The 2.098s qualifying deficit to Perez was completely unrepresentative because Bottas had to rely on his first-run time, with the second ruined by traffic and the third by Sainz impeding him.

CONS
- Looked the slower Cadillac driver overall.
- Race gave him little opportunity to shine given the damage he picked up through no fault of his own.

Verdict: Had bad luck in both qualifying and the race, but didn't look to be at Perez's level.

Started: 21st Finished: DNF

PROS
- Ran ahead of Alonso for a couple of laps early on before falling behind him approaching Turn 13.
- Brake troubles and damage from debris meant that the race comparison with Alonso doesn't mean anything.

CONS
- Had no opportunity in qualifying given a water leak prevented him setting a time in Q1, but there was nothing before that to suggest he would have been close to Alonso's pace.
- Single-lap pace ultimately wasn't a factor for Stroll given he had a 40-place grid penalty for power-unit element changes, which limited his opportunities to impress. That context significantly mitigates the negative of the fact he didn't show anything like Alonso's single-lap pace through practice.

Verdict: No chance in qualifying or the race, but also no glimmers of Alonso-like pace elsewhere.

Started: 15th Finished: 14th

PROS
- Considering the damage, his race pace was respectable, but losing time behind Perez early on limited his horizons.

CONS
- Struggled in qualifying, with the 0.880s deficit to Lindblad down to Tsunoda being far happier with the car on scrubbed tyres than fresh ones. This meant he couldn't exploit the peak of the available grip and was therefore nowhere.
- Damage at the first corner from being clobbered by Sainz meant there was no opportunity to recover from a difficult qualifying.

Verdict: A nothing weekend thanks to qualifying struggles and race damage.

Started: 20th Finished: DNF

PROS
- Showed good pace on Friday and seemed on form heading into qualifying.

CONS
- While the pitwall takes the responsibility for being oblivious to Bottas's presence and not warning Sainz, the driver always has to take a small share of the blame, even with visibility limited.
- Qualified behind Albon (by 0.005s) but pointed to poor timing of the final run and a straightline deficit as holding him back.
- Was caught out by the inevitable Turn 1 concertina at the start then compromised his race by hitting Alonso.

Verdict: Pace was fine, but too many errors.

Started: 22nd (pits) Finished: 16th

PROS
- Drove a good race from the pitlane, although his two on-track passes were of the damaged Bottas and Stroll.

CONS
- Crashing heavily in FP3 after tagging the inside wall in the Turn 10/11 sweep caused a major accident - and came after a warning on Friday when he clipped the front-left at Turn 15 with less serious consequences. It also cost him qualifying.

Verdict: As he said, "I have only myself to blame" for the shunt that defined his weekend.