The 2026
drivers.

The Kings Lynn–born driver whose F1 career has been one of the most patient grid promotions in modern memory. Russell won back-to-back feeder-series titles, GP3 in 2017 and F2 in 2018 (both as a rookie), and signed for Williams in 2019. He spent three seasons there scoring almost no points in an uncompetitive car, but consistently outpacing his teammates and demonstrating exactly the qualities Mercedes wanted in a future works driver.

His Mercedes debut at the 2020 Sakhir GP, standing in for a COVID-positive Hamilton, sealed the deal. Russell qualified second and led the race in a car he had never driven, before a pit-stop mix-up and a late puncture cost him a first win. He joined Mercedes full time in 2022 and has been the team's senior driver since Hamilton left for Ferrari at the end of 2024.

Russell is the elected director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association. Articulate, technical, and politically capable in a way few of his contemporaries are. Mercedes did build the dominant car in 2026, and Russell has won three times (Melbourne, Spielberg, Baku), but his younger teammate has had the upper hand: he heads to Austin second in the standings, 102 points behind Antonelli.

The Bologna-born driver that Mercedes have been planning around since signing him to their junior programme at age 11. Antonelli won every junior championship he entered: Italian F4, ADAC F4, Formula Regional European, Formula Regional Middle East. He skipped F3 entirely and finished sixth in F2 as a rookie in 2024 before being promoted straight to Mercedes for 2025, replacing the departing Lewis Hamilton.

His rookie 2025 season delivered podium finishes and a sprint pole. 2026 has been the breakout: nine Grand Prix wins from the first 18 rounds, including five in a row from China to Monaco, and a 123-point lead over teammate Russell with five races to go. He turned 20 in August. If he seals the title, he becomes the youngest World Champion in F1 history, taking the record from Sebastian Vettel (23 in 2010).

No young driver carries more expectation. If his talent matches his car, he could be the dominant driver of the late 2020s and early 2030s. The closest comparisons are Verstappen in 2016 and Hamilton in 2007: drivers who arrived young in race-winning cars and stayed at the front.

The Monégasque driver carrying the weight of Ferrari's championship drought. Leclerc joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2016 having won the GP3 championship; promoted to F2 in 2017 where he became the third rookie in history to win that championship. Signed by Sauber for 2018, promoted to Ferrari for 2019, replacing Räikkönen.

His career has been one of pace without titles. Leclerc has won Grands Prix (including the 2026 British GP) and taken more than 25 pole positions, but a Ferrari that has been competitive rather than dominant, along with strategy calls that have gone wrong at key moments, has kept the championship out of reach. His bond with Ferrari is unusually strong for modern F1, and he has spoken often about wanting to win the title in red.

The Monaco Grand Prix is his home race in the most literal sense, and for years it was a curse: a run of retirements and setbacks there in his early seasons became one of F1's running stories until he finally won at home in 2024. With Hamilton now in the other car, the two are closely matched teammates.

The most successful driver in F1 history by every standard measure: seven world championships (2008, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020), more than 100 race wins, more than 100 pole positions and more than 200 podiums. Hamilton joined McLaren's young-driver programme in 1998, aged 13, and made his F1 debut in 2007, finishing one point behind Räikkönen in his rookie season. He won the title in 2008, his second season, becoming the first Black driver to win the world championship.

His move to Mercedes for 2013, replacing the retiring Michael Schumacher, was widely questioned at the time and turned out to be one of the most important moves in modern F1. Six of his seven titles came with Mercedes during their 2014 to 2020 dominance. Losing the 2021 title to Verstappen on the final lap in Abu Dhabi remains a defining moment, and his last three seasons at Mercedes (2022 to 2024) saw the team's decline matched by a dip in his own results.

He moved to Ferrari for 2025 at the age of 40, fulfilling a long-held ambition. His first season at Maranello was about learning the team; 2026 is the first season with a car partly shaped by his feedback. It brought his first win in red, at the Barcelona-Catalunya GP in June, 686 days after his previous victory, and he finished fourth in Austin to sit third in the standings, one point behind Russell. An eighth title, which would be an outright record, is what drives him now. Away from racing, he was knighted in 2021, has interests in fashion and music, and campaigns for diversity in motorsport through his Mission 44 foundation.

The Bristol-born driver who joined McLaren's junior programme in 2017, won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, took the F3 European Championship title that same year, and made his F1 debut with the team in 2019 at age 19. He spent his first three F1 seasons in midfield McLaren machinery, scoring a handful of podiums and a reputation as the most consistent qualifier in the field.

His breakthrough victory came at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix after 110 race starts, among the longest waits for a first win in modern F1. He won four times in 2024. In 2025 he won the World Championship, taking the lead from teammate Piastri only in the closing rounds and holding off Verstappen by two points at the Abu Dhabi finale. His title defence has been harder: wins in Hungary and Zandvoort, but sixth in the standings with six races left.

His profile reaches well beyond results. He co-founded the Quadrant esports and apparel brand and is relaxed and articulate in front of the media. As the 2025 world champion he has chosen to run the number 1 in 2026 (his usual number is 4). Defending the title in a year dominated by Mercedes has been hard.

The Melbourne-born Australian who completed the rarest career sweep in junior single-seater history: champion in three consecutive years across three consecutive championship levels. Formula Renault Eurocup in 2019. FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2020. FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2021. Piastri then sat out the 2022 season as Alpine's reserve driver while a contractual dispute over his 2023 race seat played out via the FIA Contract Recognition Board.

He won that case and signed for McLaren rather than Alpine, a 2022 contract decision that drew open criticism from Alpine's management at the time but has been more than justified since. His first McLaren season in 2023 brought two podiums and a sprint win, and his first Grand Prix win came in Hungary in 2024. In 2025 he won seven times and led the championship for much of the season before finishing third. He has yet to win in 2026.

His operating style is unusual for a modern young F1 driver: emotionally flat in media interactions, technically detailed in engineering debriefs, allergic to social-media performance. The technical vocabulary in his radio messages is the closest thing on the grid to a young Schumacher. The bookmakers consistently price him as a future world champion; the most plausible scenario is that he wins one before Norris wins another.

The son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen and karting champion Sophie Kumpen, he grew up between Belgium and the Netherlands. Verstappen made his F1 debut with Toro Rosso in 2015 at the age of 17, the youngest driver ever to start a Grand Prix, a record that is likely to stand because the FIA then set a minimum age of 18 for a super licence. Promoted to Red Bull in 2016, he won on his debut for the team at the Spanish GP, becoming F1's youngest race winner at 18 years and 228 days.

His first world championship came in 2021, in controversial fashion: the Abu Dhabi finale, the safety-car restart and a last-lap pass for the title. Three more followed in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and in two of those seasons he won more races than the rest of the grid combined. The 2024 title was sealed in Las Vegas, three weeks after he won the Brazilian GP from 17th on the grid in the wet, a drive widely seen as one of the greatest in F1 history.

Losing the 2025 title to Norris by two points ended his four-year run. Verstappen stayed with Red Bull for its new engine partnership with Ford. The new car took time to come good, but he won back to back at Sepang and Singapore in October and finished third in Austin after starting on the front row. Among current drivers, his mix of raw speed, racecraft and composure under pressure is still the benchmark; the question for the rest of his career is whether his car matches it.

Born in Paris to Algerian parents, Hadjar came through French karting and the FIA junior ladder as part of the Red Bull Junior Team. He won races in F3 in 2022, finished second in F2 in 2024 and joined Racing Bulls in F1 for 2025. His rookie season brought regular points and a surprise third place at the Dutch GP, which helped earn him promotion to the senior Red Bull team for 2026 in place of Yuki Tsunoda. A wrist injury in training over the summer break cost him three rounds (Zandvoort, Monza and Madrid), with Liam Lawson standing in, and he returned in Baku.

The Red Bull second seat alongside Verstappen has consumed every driver to occupy it since Daniel Ricciardo's departure in 2018: Pierre Gasly demoted mid-2019, Alex Albon dropped end-2020, Sergio Pérez retained for four seasons but never matched Verstappen's pace, briefly Liam Lawson in early 2025 before being demoted, then Yuki Tsunoda for the remainder of 2025. Hadjar's challenge is purely operational: be measurably closer to Verstappen than any of his recent predecessors managed. If he succeeds, the seat is his for years. If he doesn't, the academy line behind him is long.

The first French driver at Red Bull in the senior seat since Pierre Gasly's brief stint in 2019.

Born in Hastings, New Zealand, Lawson came through karting and the Toyota Racing Series before joining the Red Bull Junior Team in 2019 and moving up the FIA ladder. He spent two seasons as Red Bull's reserve driver, standing in at AlphaTauri in 2023 when Daniel Ricciardo broke his wrist and scoring points in his third race, before returning with RB (now Racing Bulls) for the last six races of 2024.

His career hit a very public low early in 2025, when he was promoted to the senior Red Bull team alongside Verstappen and dropped back to Racing Bulls after two races. Few drivers have had such a public demotion in modern F1. His response was to get on with the job at Racing Bulls. In 2026 he returned to the senior Red Bull seat for three rounds while Isack Hadjar was injured, and he is ninth in the standings.

Worth watching as 2027 contracts take shape: Lawson fits the profile (a proven midfield racer without long-term ties to a top team) that Audi, Cadillac and Williams may look at.

The youngest driver on the 2026 grid. Lindblad was born in the UK to a Swedish-Indian family, started karting at age six, and joined the Red Bull Junior Programme at age 13. He finished fourth in FIA F3 in 2024 with four wins, became the youngest F2 race winner in 2025 on the way to sixth as a rookie, and was promoted directly to F1 with Racing Bulls for 2026.

The FIA granted him an early Super Licence exemption while he was still 17, and he turned 19 in August. He is the first new British F1 driver since Oliver Bearman in 2024.

Red Bull clearly rates him very highly. Whether he is promoted to the senior team for 2027, alongside or instead of Hadjar, depends on how the two young drivers compare this year. Like Antonelli at Mercedes, if the talent matches the opportunity, he could be a world champion in the 2030s.

The oldest driver on the 2026 grid, now in his 23rd F1 season, the longest career in the sport's history. Alonso won back-to-back world championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006, ending Schumacher's run at Ferrari. Since then his career has been one of F1's great "what ifs": a Ferrari spell (2010 to 2014) with three near misses, a difficult McLaren-Honda partnership (2015 to 2018), a two-year break during which he won the Daytona 24 Hours, a return with Alpine (2021 to 2022) and a move to Aston Martin in 2023.

His first Aston Martin season was one of the surprises of modern F1: eight podiums in a car that finished fifth in the constructors' championship. The years since have been a slow build. The 2026 reset was meant to be Aston Martin's moment, with Honda as engine partner, Adrian Newey as team principal and new chassis rules all arriving together. Whether the car finally matches Alonso's racecraft is the big question of his late career.

He holds the record for the most F1 starts. Two Le Mans 24 Hours wins with Toyota (2018 and 2019) and a World Endurance title add to a remarkable all-round record. 2026 has been hard, with Aston Martin tenth in the constructors' standings. A third title before he retires is his stated goal.

Born in Montreal, he is the son of billionaire Lawrence Stroll, who led the consortium that bought the team now called Aston Martin (then Force India, renamed Racing Point) in 2018 and still owns it. His family's backing supported his junior career and helped him into a Williams seat for 2017, a move that drew criticism at the time but is common in F1, where many drivers bring sponsorship.

The first F1 season delivered a third-place podium at the Azerbaijan GP at age 18. Career since has been steady rather than spectacular: three podium finishes total across ten F1 seasons, no race wins, no pole positions in dry conditions (his Turkey 2020 pole was wet). Generally outperformed by his more experienced teammate (Pérez 2019–2020, Vettel 2021–2022, Alonso 2023–).

His position is unusual: as long as his father owns the team, the seat is his. For Aston Martin's leadership that raises an obvious question about whether a team can fight for championships if one of its cars regularly falls short, and it is a question that has hung over the team for years.

The first Thai driver to score F1 points since Prince Bira in the 1950s; born in London to a Thai mother and British father, races under the Thai flag. Albon came through karting (where he competed against Verstappen and Leclerc), GP3 in 2015, F2 from 2017, and was originally signed by Toro Rosso for 2019. Promoted mid-season to Red Bull alongside Verstappen, kept there for 2020, then dropped at season end as Pérez was brought in.

He spent 2021 as Red Bull's reserve driver and racing in DTM, before Williams signed him for 2022, which surprised some observers given his Red Bull exit. Five Williams seasons later he is one of the team's leaders and one of the most underrated drivers on the grid, with several Q3 appearances in cars that had no right to be there.

Mediated, calm, and operationally unflashy. Albon's career has been defined by being good in cars that weren't, and the team is now building a car that may finally suit him. Williams expect him to remain through 2027 at least; Audi have been linked.

The son of two-time World Rally champion Carlos Sainz Sr., he has driven for five teams in twelve F1 seasons. He came through Red Bull's junior programme, made his debut at Toro Rosso in 2015, moved to Renault in 2017, McLaren in 2019 and Ferrari from 2021 to 2024, winning four races there, including the 2024 Australian GP. When Hamilton took his Ferrari seat for 2025, several teams, including Audi, Williams and Alpine, pursued him for months.

He chose Williams, which promised less in the short term but had the stronger long-term plan. It was widely described as a gamble: a race winner choosing a rebuilding team over a seat elsewhere. His first Williams season brought two podiums and visible leadership within the team.

His father is a four-time Dakar Rally winner. 2026 has been a struggle in a Williams that sits ninth in the constructors' standings, but he remains capable of race wins if the car allows.

For more than a decade he was the most experienced driver in F1 never to have finished on the podium, until he took third at the 2025 British Grand Prix in his 239th start. Hülkenberg came through karting in Emmerich, won the German Formula BMW title in 2005, the F3 Euroseries in 2008 and the GP2 championship in 2009 as a rookie, and made his F1 debut with Williams in 2010, taking a surprise pole at the Brazilian GP that year.

His career since has been a long tour of the midfield: Force India (twice), Sauber, Renault, Aston Martin (as a stand-in), Haas and now Audi, with many Q3 appearances along the way. He also won Le Mans outright in 2015 with Porsche. The long wait for an F1 podium was partly bad luck and partly the cars he drove.

His role at Audi from 2025 onward is partly racing, partly building. The team is in its debut as a works manufacturer; Hülkenberg is the experienced reference driver whose feedback shapes the development cycle. Audi sit eighth in their debut season; Hülkenberg leads the team's scoring.

The first Brazilian on the F1 grid since Felipe Massa retired at the end of 2017, a notable gap for a country with eight world championships (Fittipaldi two, Piquet three, Senna three). Bortoleto came through karting in São Paulo and joined the McLaren Driver Development Programme. He won the FIA F3 title in 2023 as a rookie and the FIA F2 title in 2024, back-to-back titles at successive levels, as Leclerc, Russell and Piastri had done before him.

McLaren had no F1 seat for 2025, so Bortoleto was released to join Sauber, which was becoming Audi. It proved a good move, putting him inside a works manufacturer team building towards 2026. He scored points as a rookie in 2025 and is now in his second season.

The cultural significance of his presence on the grid extends beyond results. Brazilian F1 viewership rebuilt around Felipe Massa in the 2000s collapsed in his absence; Bortoleto has now reanimated it. The first podium will be the loudest race weekend Interlagos has seen since 2008.

Born in Rouen, he came through karting and the Formula Renault Eurocup before winning the GP2 championship in 2016. He joined Toro Rosso for 2017, stayed for 2018 and was promoted to Red Bull alongside Verstappen for 2019. The Red Bull seat lasted twelve races before he was sent back to Toro Rosso mid-season, one of the most public demotions in modern F1.

His response was remarkable. Gasly won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix at Monza in a chaotic race, the first win by a French driver since Olivier Panis at Monaco in 1996 and the team's first since Vettel's win for Toro Rosso in 2008. Podiums in Baku in 2021 and at Zandvoort in 2023 rebuilt his reputation as one of the best midfield drivers, and he moved to Alpine for 2023.

Turmoil at Alpine over the past few years, with changes of team principal and Flavio Briatore's return, has limited what Gasly could achieve. On his day he can still beat any driver in the midfield.

The first Argentine F1 driver since Gastón Mazzacane in 2001, a 23-year gap for a country whose racing heritage includes Juan Manuel Fangio (five world titles) and Carlos Reutemann (12 wins). Colapinto was born in Pilar, Buenos Aires Province, came through Argentine karting and Italian and Spanish junior series, and joined the Williams Driver Academy in 2023.

His F1 debut came mid-2024, when Williams replaced Logan Sargeant with him for the final nine races. Points finishes in Baku and Austin generated significant commercial interest. Alpine signed him as reserve for 2025 and promoted him to a race seat from Imola, replacing Jack Doohan. Briatore made him the most-watched rookie of his class on social media within months.

The political pressure inside Alpine to retain him through 2026 has been intense. The Buenos Aires fan base, the social-media reach, and the commercial sponsors strongly attached to him have so far kept him in the seat against the typical Briatore impatience.

The Normandy-born driver whose F1 career has been defined by both his single race win and the interpersonal politics that have followed him. Ocon came up through karting (where he competed against Verstappen for the European Championship at a junior level), the Eurocup Formula Renault, FIA Formula 3 (winning in 2014), and GP3 (winning in 2015). He debuted with Manor mid-2016 before joining Force India in 2017.

His Force India partnership with Sergio Pérez was famously fractious; the two collided more than once, most notably at Spa in 2017. Ocon lost his seat at the end of 2018 after the Stroll consortium took over the team, spent 2019 as Mercedes' reserve and was signed by Renault (later Alpine) for 2020. His win came at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix, an opportunistic victory on a chaotic, rain-affected day, but a win all the same.

His Alpine years were marked by tension with teammates, particularly Gasly. He left Alpine a race early at the end of 2024 to join Haas for 2025. At 30, he is an experienced midfield driver weighing up what comes next.

Born in Chelmsford, he came through karting and junior single-seaters, winning the Italian and ADAC F4 titles in 2021 at the age of 16. He moved to FIA Formula 3 in 2022, finishing third as a rookie, and raced in FIA Formula 2 in 2023 and 2024. His F1 debut came in 2024 as Ferrari's stand-in for Carlos Sainz, who needed appendix surgery before the Saudi Arabian GP. Bearman finished seventh, scoring points on his debut, and was confirmed as a Ferrari Driver Academy prospect for a race seat.

Haas, Ferrari's closest customer team, signed him for 2025. It is the classic Ferrari Academy route: development at a customer team, with a view to a works seat when one opens up. With Hamilton and Leclerc both committed to Ferrari, his path depends on his own results more than on timing.

Quiet and technically minded, he is less interested in social media than some of his contemporaries, and he is one of the most promising young drivers on the grid.

The Guadalajara-born driver whose F1 career has spanned five teams and 15 seasons. Pérez came through karting in Mexico, raced in the British Formula 3 series, finished runner-up in GP2 in 2010, and made his F1 debut with Sauber in 2011. The career then moved through McLaren (2013), Force India/Racing Point (2014–2020, his most consistent period), Red Bull (2021–2024), a 2025 sabbatical, and now Cadillac.

Six F1 race wins and many podiums, including victory at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix after dropping to last on the first lap, one of the great comeback wins of the modern era. His time alongside Verstappen at Red Bull brought back-to-back constructors' titles in 2022 and 2023 and second place in the 2023 drivers' standings, but the gap to Verstappen grew and he was dropped at the end of 2024.

After a year out in 2025, Cadillac, GM's new F1 team, signed him for 2026, valuing both his race-winning experience and his appeal in the American and Mexican markets. The Mexico City GP is his home race and a big weekend for the team.

The Nastola-born driver who came up through Finnish karting, Formula Renault, GP3 (winning in 2011), and joined Williams as a test driver in 2012 before making his F1 debut in 2013. The Williams years (2013–2016) produced consistent points and a string of podiums. Bottas's career-defining move came in 2017: he was signed by Mercedes to replace the retiring 2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg.

His five years alongside Hamilton at Mercedes (2017 to 2021) brought all ten of his race wins, twenty pole positions, 67 podiums and five consecutive constructors' championships. His consistency and willingness to play the team game were a big part of that run.

Replaced by George Russell at Mercedes from 2022, Bottas moved to Alfa Romeo/Sauber (2022–2024). He spent 2025 without a race seat, back at Mercedes as reserve driver. Cadillac signed him for 2026 as the second senior racing voice alongside Pérez. A keen competitive gravel cyclist and outspoken on mental health, Bottas is one of the most well-rounded drivers on the grid.