The 2026 Formula 1 cars are about to hit the track properly. We don't yet know which will be the best of them but we know the quality of the drivers each team has.

So, regardless of car performance, who has the best driver line-up on the grid? That's exactly what we asked our team as they ranked this year's 11 driver pairings.

We applied the F1 points system to produce a combined ranking, including how the teams' 2026 rankings compare to where they placed in 2025.

Contributors: Edd Straw, Scott Mitchell-Malm, Ben Anderson, Josh Suttill, Megan Cantle, Matt Beer and Val Khorounzhiy

11th: Racing Bulls (down 1)

Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad

0 points

Best/worst ranking: 11th (all)

Our panel unanimously voted Racing Bulls the weakest driver line-up of 2026, even if many of our contributors had plenty positive to say about both Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.

"If Lindblad really is better/more exciting to Red Bull than Hadjar was as a rookie then this line-up could be several spots higher," Ben Anderson explained.

"But for now he's a complete unknown, while Lawson doesn't seem like someone right now with the potential to break into the top 10 or 12 overall so, based on what we've seen, rather than what we think we might see, this line-up has to go at the bottom - but there's not much in it."

Scott Mitchell-Malm said Lawson is "really strong in the midfield on his day, but over a season, I think he is the weakest lead driver for any team".

Valentin Khorounzhiy believed the way Lawson rebounded from the Red Bull demotion "earned him more time in F1", but Matt Beer pondered "I'm not sure keeping Lawson on was really a better bet than seeing if going 'home' to Racing Bulls would've brought the best back out of Yuki Tsunoda".

10th: Alpine (down 1)

Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto

9 points

Best ranking: 9th (Scott Mitchell-Malm and Val Khorounzhiy)
Worst ranking: 10th (Edd Straw, Ben Anderson, Josh Suttill, Megan Cantle and Matt Beer)

Pierre Gasly did a heroic job in F1 2025's worst car, scoring all of Alpine's 22 points. But just as was the case 12 months ago, there are doubts about his team-mate as Gasly is doing the heavy lifting right now.

"This has to be a last F1 chance for Colapinto, who just hasn't shown enough often enough," Matt Beer summarised.

Colapinto had a shaky start after replacing Jack Doohan at round seven of the 2025 season, crashing in Q1 at Imola and struggling so much that Alpine flirted with replacing him for 2026.

Colapinto turned things around enough for Alpine to keep him on, but he could never match or beat Gasly when the Alpine was a points-scorer, only occasionally when it was uncompetitive.

"Given Alpine is so convinced it can take a big step forward this year, it should be concerned that only one of its drivers might be ready to make the most of it," Josh Suttill said.

9th: Cadillac (new entry)

Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas

20 points

Best ranking: 7th (MC)
Worst ranking: 10th (SMM and VK)

F1 2026's new team, Cadillac, has picked two drivers with 16 grand prix victories between them in Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas - but that's only enough for ninth on our list.

Megan Cantle was their biggest advocate, placing them seventh: "They might not be able to show their skills all the time this season, but there's a big enough body of positive work behind both that means I have faith in their abilities."

At their F1 peaks, Perez and Bottas were even able to occasionally beat their legendary F1 team-mates Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, but both had limitations and dropped off the grid after 2024.

Beer said: "If Cadillac gets Sauber-era Bottas and Force India/Racing Point-era Perez, then it has an outstanding line-up of determined, experienced midfield warriors. But a lot of race-winning drivers have gone to teams in this sort of difficult position and it's been a rubbish experience for both sides."

Suttill added: "It's hard to see how either would have returned without Cadillac, which in itself says something about this line-up."

But once they shake off any rust, they'll still likely form a very dependable, highly experienced driver line-up that is still the strongest pairing a completely new F1 team has had in the 21st century.

8th: Audi (down 1 (as Sauber in 2025))

Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto

34 points

Best ranking: 6th (MB)
Worst ranking: 9th (MC and ES)

We've essentially already seen year one of Audi's first F1 driver line-up at Sauber last year and, on the evidence of that, our panel placed it anywhere from sixth to ninth.

Cantle, who placed it ninth, said: "This feels maybe a tad harsh because Nico Hulkenberg is still a very good driver and I also was impressed by Gabriel Bortoleto at points during his rookie season - but realistically I can't rank them higher than driver pairings above them."

Audi's biggest supporter, Beer, added: "Bortoleto's best weekends really impressed me in 2025, and Hulkenberg showed he's got a lot more left in the tank than I expected."

Khorounzhiy, who placed it a spot lower, raised concern "about Hulkenberg's 'ageing curve' in terms of performance given how much he's historically leaned on what might be a fading single-lap expertise" but added: "he's still good, and Bortoleto was a very pleasant surprise".

7th: Aston Martin (up 1)

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll

38 points

Best ranking: 6th (MC and ES)
Worst ranking: 9th (BA)

He might be 44, but there are very few signs that age is catching up with Fernando Alonso, who wasn't error-free in 2025 but was routinely punching above the weight of a disappointing Aston Martin car.

Our panel was split on how much Alonso elevates this line-up, versus how much Lance Stroll drags it down.

Khorounzhiy, who placed Aston Martin eighth, said Alonso "remains an incredible asset and comes off a deceptively strong campaign".

Alonso has scored 72% of the team's points in his three seasons alongside Stroll, who had arguably his weakest season with the team in 2025.

That season included just one points finish in the final nine weekends, compared to six for Alonso. Plus, he outqualified Alonso just once in 30 attempts in 2025, for the China sprint, the worst record among the full-season driver pairings.

Anderson rated them ninth and said: "This line-up could be top-five or top-six if the car is good and Stroll is the early-2023 version of himself again, but for now I'd say he's in the bottom three of all 22 drivers on next year's grid and therefore dragging Alonso (who is easily still in the top six) down."

6th: Haas (no change)

Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon

46 points

Best ranking: 6th (BA, SMM, VK, JS)
Worst ranking: 8th (MB and MC)

Haas's duo sticks in sixth place after Ollie Bearman's impressive rookie season elevated his standing with our panel, while Esteban Ocon's patchy year alongside him has dented his reputation.

Bearman was the second-most-prolific driver in the midfield after the summer break last year, behind only Carlos Sainz, with Cantle saying: "Bearman looks the real deal, I was massively impressed with his first season in F1.

“Ocon felt a tad anonymous at points last year, but I cannot deny the talent that we've seen over the course of his career so far."

Mitchell-Malm thinks "Bearman needs to cut out the silly errors, but the latter part of 2025 suggested he can do that, and if Ocon sorts his qualifying out, this is still a great line-up for a midfield team".

In Anderson's mind "there wasn't much between Audi and Haas". So what settled it?

"I think Bearman is on a better trajectory than Hulkenberg (and was more impressive in 2025 anyway) and there probably wasn't much to choose between Ocon and Bortoleto overall," he said.

5th: Ferrari (down 4)

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton

80 points

Best ranking: 4th (BA, SMM, ES, MC, VK)
Worst ranking: 5th (JS and MB)

No team has fallen further in our rankings year-on-year than Ferrari and that has very little to do with Charles Leclerc, according to our panel.

"Leclerc's superb 2025 saved Ferrari from an even worse season and he's proved himself more than worthy of having a proper shot at the title," Suttill said.

Ferrari's big drop-off is a result of the first year of Lewis Hamilton's big move being so underwhelming: "The Hamilton deal has not aged gracefully, but he wasn't that dreadfully far off Leclerc," was Khorounzhiy's verdict.

As Mitchell-Malm put it, "Hamilton had immense credit in the bank from his peak years, but that has mostly been spent now.

"It's a hope, rather than an expectation, that we will consistently see him at his best again."

4th: Williams (up 1)

Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz

82 points

Best ranking: 2nd (ES)
Worst ranking: 5th (BA, SMM, VK and MC)

Edd Straw placing Williams second in his ranking helped it pip Ferrari to fourth place on our list: "Carlos Sainz/Alex Albon remains one of the best-balanced driver line-ups in F1, even if Sainz might well now have made Williams his team."

Even Khorounzhiy, who placed Williams fifth in his list, admitted it "probably should be higher given it employs two of the more dependable drivers on the grid, one of which has proven frontrunning upside".

Mitchell-Malm praised it as an "extremely well-balanced and hard-working combination that is absolutely perfect for Williams in its current phase and will be extremely effective in the midfield".

Suttill concluded: "If you could combine the Albon we saw in the first half of 2025 with the Sainz from the second half, this line-up would be even higher. But as it is, fourth feels about right for this midfield superteam."

3rd: Mercedes (no change)

George Russell and Kimi Antonelli

100 points

Best ranking: 3rd (BA, SMM, VK, MC, JS, MB)
Worst ranking: 5th (ES)

We rated George Russell as the best driver not named Max Verstappen in 2025, as his strongest F1 season yet proved he's more than ready to make the most of championship-challenging machinery that Mercedes is yet to supply him with.

His team-mate Kimi Antonelli might have dragged this line-up down more had it not been for the impressive late-season turnaround he made last year with podiums in Brazil and Las Vegas.

In the words of Mitchell-Malm, "this is starting to look more like the line-up Mercedes promised".

Beer added: "Russell feels like he's on the cusp of a massive breakthrough and becoming a properly elite driver, but Mercedes is inched down a bit by Antonelli having not shown quite enough in his first year - though the peak signs were there."

Everyone but Straw placed this duo third; he chose fifth for Mercedes as it stands, because "Russell has proved himself capable of being a top-team leader, but Antonelli could raise this line-up's effectiveness significantly if he has the second season he should do".

2nd: Red Bull (up 2)

Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar

130 points

Best ranking: 1st (MC)
Worst ranking: 3rd (ES)

F1 2025's best driver paired with F1 2025's best rookie is more than enough to lift Red Bull up two spots in our rankings compared to 12 months ago.

But only Cantle placed Red Bull's duo first, saying: "Maybe slightly controversial but also... Max Verstappen is the best driver in the world currently, so he could be a ranking all of his own.

"But he doesn't actually need to be, because Hadjar was the best rookie on the grid, so it feels like a pretty difficult pairing to look past."

There are still some doubts about whether Hadjar can succeed where predecessors Lawson and Tsunoda failed, though, with Beer admitting "I've not got much faith in Hadjar to break the Red Bull second-car curse, regardless of how high his rookie season peaks were".

Khorounzhiy added: "Hadjar was very good in 2025 but you have to fear for his 2026 already. If he bucks the Red Bull trend, this can easily be the best line-up because it already features the best-by-far driver."

Straw placed them lowest, in third, with Hadjar his biggest question mark: "Verstappen is the class of the field, but much depends on whether Hadjar can finally solve Red Bull's second-driver problem."

1st: McLaren (up 1)

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

168 points

Best ranking: 1st (SMM, ES, VK, MB, JS, BA)
Worst ranking: 2nd (MC)

All but one of our contributors placed McLaren's pairing top in this year's ranking, meaning the Lando Norris/Oscar Piastri line-up has moved up one place each year for three consecutive seasons.

"I picked them for my #1 last year but was outvoted by my colleagues!" a vindicated Anderson declared.

"The constructors' standings don't tell a lie in this case. Thanks to Hamilton underperforming, McLaren has the strongest line-up overall, no question."

Straw stated: "A driver line-up has to be judged on the merits of the combination, and both Norris and Piastri are proven winners."

Mitchell-Malm added: "This is the strongest pairing on 2025 evidence, even though one or two line-ups could eclipse it at their absolute theoretical best."

And Khorounzhiy went a step further: "Perhaps you won't back either in a head-to-head battle against the leaders at Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari, but they give you two real chances at it almost every time."