The Formula 1 season has come to a close, and it’s time to take stock! We do this with Giedo van der Garde: the Viaplay analyst and former F1 driver assesses the performance of the drivers for us. Today: the complete Formula 1 final report 2026, from Max Verstappen to Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto. And everything in between…
The Top 3:
Max Verstappen: 9.9
“Without a doubt, Max made the best impression this season. He kept the championship exciting until the very end. That’s impressive, especially considering how things were going at times earlier this year. Or rather, how they weren’t going. But Max is so good, he always gets the maximum out of that car. Thanks to him, it ultimately wasn’t a contest between two drivers, but three.”
A few days before the final race, Van der Garde expressed his confidence in various media outlets that Verstappen would clinch the title. That confidence was very justified and understandable based on the above. However, the Red Bull driver just fell short. That doesn’t dampen the spirits. Van der Garde: “I give Max a 9.9, a well-deserved score in my opinion. Not quite a 10, but if he had become champion and defended his title, that would have been the final score.”
George Russell: 9
“Of course, this season was all about Norris, Oscar Piastri, and Max. Understandably, they were fighting for the title. But don’t forget George Russell, I thought he drove really well at Mercedes this year. He was perhaps the most steady of everyone on the grid.”
Amidst all the dominance of the McLarens in the first half of the season and Verstappen’s comeback in the second half, Russell managed to win his races too. He triumphed twice: he won the Grand Prix of Canada in June and in early October, he was the strongest in the Grand Prix of Singapore.
“Russell was often in the right place at the right time after Max. I really think he had a good year, despite not always having the best car. Moreover, he consistently outperformed his teammate Kimi Antonelli. So I say: a 9.”
Lando Norris: 9
“We’re all talking about his strong end to the season, and rightly so: Norris was indeed in great form in the last few months, strong and fast.”
At the start of this season, it was teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri who was the more successful of the two McLaren drivers. Prior to the final race in Qatar, Van der Garde predicted that Norris would finish on the podium. “In a normal race, he would finish second or third,” he said. This turned out to be a prescient view: Lando Norris finished third and thus crowned himself champion. “Ultimately, he deserves a lot of appreciation. In this case, I give him a 9. That seems like a good score to me.”
The Flop-3:
Jack Doohan & Franco Colapinto: 5.2
There was little honor to be gained for Alpine in the 2025 season. The main culprits were Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto. They shared the second seat at the French racing stable, but it was a case of six of one, half a dozen of the other. Neither scored a single point; Doohan didn’t in the first handful of races and Colapinto didn’t in the remainder of the year. Van der Garde also noticed this.
“What they showed there was really insufficient,” he believes. “Of course, that car didn’t go anywhere, but still… What Doohan showed was really insufficient. But to be fair: even after Doohan had to make way for Colapinto at Alpine, things didn’t improve. In the end, he also underperformed and so they didn’t make any progress. Both a fail, a 5.2.”
Esteban Ocon: 5.3
Van der Garde is not only critical of the French team Alpine, but also of one of the three French drivers on the grid. In this case, Esteban Ocon. “He really deserves a fail. Ocon has fallen through the ice, has shown little or nothing and is simply not complete.”
That rookie Oliver Bearman, his teammate at Haas, outperformed him, is something Van der Garde also holds against Ocon. Or as he puts it himself: “Ocon really got a beating from Bearman this year. Fail, 5.3.”
And the rest:
Isack Hadjar: 8.4
“Hadjar was surprisingly good, maybe even better than everyone thought. I certainly consider him one of the best rookies of this season. It started off badly in the warm-up round in Melbourne with a crash, which made you think: what’s going to happen? But he has impressed enormously in the qualifications and the race and has almost always been the boss of his teammate. So he deserves a high score, an 8.4. Just below Norris.”
Charles Leclerc 8.2:
“Ferrari, of course, performed disappointingly this year. They didn’t start off very well, but couldn’t make a step in the second part either. I was very curious how Charles Leclerc would do this year compared to Hamilton and Leclerc was definitely better in races and qualifications. An 8.2.”
Gabriel Bortoleto 8.1
“Speaking of rookies: Bortoleto also really surprised me positively. Of course, we already knew a bit from the junior categories how good he is, with his titles in Formula 2 and Formula 3. But the question was how he would do next to an experienced driver like Nico Hülkenberg. It was with some ups and downs, but you can see quality and talent. Very good, so I give an 8.1.”
Driver Ratings
Nico Hülkenberg: 8.1
“If I give Bortoleto this score, then Hülkenberg deserves the same. He performed well against a talented rookie teammate. Hülkenberg’s experience showed, often placing him further ahead. His podium finish in England was particularly impressive. Sauber made some nice strides this season, so he also gets an 8.1.”
Oscar Piastri: 8
“He didn’t become champion, but how does his season compare to Norris’s, you might ask. Piastri started the year very strong. If I had to rate that, I’d go for a 9+. But that was only the beginning of the year. At some point, he made many mistakes, lost speed, and his confidence dwindled. So, in the end, I settle on an 8. That’s also a good score.”
Carlos Sainz: 8
“Let’s talk about the Williams guys. Carlos Sainz was really outstanding in the latter half of the season. In that regard, he deserves a solid 9. But of course, it wasn’t all great throughout the year. Sainz had a slower start to the season, he had to adjust and didn’t really get going. There were also some wrong strategic calls, so I say: an 8.”
“With Alexander Albon, it was actually the opposite of Carlos Sainz. As teammates, they both had good and not so good parts of the season. Albon started well, while Sainz struggled. Later in the year, the roles reversed. They ended up balancing each other out, so Albon also gets an 8.”
Oliver Bearman: 7.9
“Bearman had a few more ups and downs, it was his first full year as a Formula 1 driver. I’m torn between a 7.9 and an 8. Some weekends he was really excellent at Haas, which was nice to see. He definitely has potential for the future.”
Kimi Antonelli: 7.8
“A rookie at a big team like Mercedes, but he was too often inconsistent. Especially in the middle of the season, he struggled, it was really a drama. But: he picked up the pace again at the end of the season. I saw the momentum returning. So, a 7.8. He had a typical ‘rookie year’: ups and downs, phases where sometimes things go well and other times they don’t.”
Pierre Gasly: 7
“As I said: that Alpine car was really not up to par this season. But considering what Gasly managed to achieve in a disappointing year, he did quite well. Therefore, I think he deserves a decent score, a 7. Gasly is simply ‘steady’, a good driver.”
Liam Lawson: 6.8
Driver Ratings
Hadjar truly defeated him as a rookie at Racing Bulls, but it’s easy to forget that Lawson was still with Red Bull at the start of this season, as Max’s teammate. He even drove in two Grand Prix for Red Bull before returning to Racing Bulls. He performed well at the end of the season, showing resilience: 6.8.
Fernando Alonso: 6.7
Aston Martin was rather nondescript, but Fernando Alonso at least managed to make an impression now and then: hence a 6.7. There were moments when he was in the right place at the right time. Strategic decisions, team errors; these sometimes affected him. But as a driver, he always delivers, and you can see he still enjoys it.
Lewis Hamilton: 6
Well, for Lewis Hamilton, it was a disappointing year. It didn’t turn out as Ferrari, he himself, and many others had hoped. He won the sprint race in China. But joining a new team after so many years, meeting new people, and finding your groove… Maybe next year. I won’t give him a failing grade, as he is, of course, the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). Let’s keep a positive outlook. He gets a 6.
Yuki Tsunoda: 5.7
Starting at Racing Bulls and then suddenly being placed in a team with Max Verstappen, the best driver in the world at the moment. Well. Yuki did fall short in comparison to Max. He certainly tried everything. I can’t give him a high grade, hence a 5.7.
Lance Stroll: 5.6
He just manages to stay above the bottom three, as I give him a 5.6. But like all of Aston Martin, he was a bit nondescript. It’s quite bizarre that you sometimes hardly notice some drivers throughout an entire season. And Lance Stroll is an example of that. I hardly noticed him at all.
