Settling the talk over who one of the best driver on the Components 1 grid actually is.
George Russell is the 2026 F1 title favorite, however do followers suppose he is one of the best driver on the grid? (Picture: Getty)
It is the age-old query: Who can be topped Components 1 champion if it was a spec collection with everybody behind the wheel of the very same automotive? Engineering and automotive efficiency has all the time been a big consider outcomes over the many years and so it is exhausting to match drivers and give you a definitive rating.
However all of us like to do it anyway! And so, over the previous few weeks, we have polled a few of our readers asking which driver they imagine would win the title if everybody drove the identical automotive. Nearly 5,000 of you responded and two names particularly had been extra widespread than the remainder.
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Regardless of his standing as favorite to be topped world champion this yr, George Russell obtained the fewest votes of the 5 drivers supplied as particular choices. He obtained simply 172 of the 4,901 votes – a measly 3.51 p.c – edged out by the present defending champion Lando Norris who was solely backed by 184 of you.
Present championship chief, Kimi Antonelli, and Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri, who led the standings for six months final time period earlier than a late-season collapse noticed him end third, weren’t included on the checklist of 5 particular choices. In complete, 304 of you voted for ‘different’, suggesting that, once more, solely a small proportion suppose both of these drivers is one of the best within the enterprise.
Charles Leclerc, famend as among the finest qualifiers in F1, was backed by 429 of you, taking 8.75 p.c of the vote. However there’s a enormous hole then to his Ferrari team-mate and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Even on the age of 41, 30.34 p.c of our readers, 1,487 respondants to the ballot, suppose the Brit remains to be the quickest driver round.
However there may be additionally one other important bounce then to the person who topped the ballot. Taking nearly half of the votes, 47.44 p.c, was Max Verstappen, the four-time world champion who 2,325 voters named as the motive force they suppose would nonetheless be the strongest contender for glory this yr – if his Pink Bull automotive wasn’t so gradual.
However whereas many clearly nonetheless imagine Verstappen is probably the most expert F1 driver round, there’s a robust likelihood that this season might show to be his final on the grid. He turns 29 in September this yr however is already contemplating what life after F1 would possibly seem like, having conceded he’s not having fun with being behind the wheel of this new era of automobiles.
Key to his retirement determination would be the impression that the rule modifications, agreed earlier this week in a vote of F1 stakeholders after weeks of session with drivers and workforce bosses, have on the motion going ahead. In complete, 12 rule modifications have been agreed and are set to be voted by by the FIA World Motor Sport Council, with most taking impact earlier than subsequent weekend’s Miami Grand Prix.
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