Round 8 of the 2026 F1 season is now in the books, with the Austrian Grand Prix being won by George Russell.
But did the Mercedes driver top our ratings - and which pair of team-mates excelled throughout despite getting nowhere near the podium?
Check out the ratings below!
The top five
George Russell - 9
Earned pole position after knowing his rule book inside out, which then unlocked a relatively straightforward run to a much-needed victory. But throughout practice and early stages of qualifying was firmly the second best Mercedes driver, but for the first time, a 50:50 call went in his favour.
Max Verstappen - 9
Not at fault for the crash in qualifying, and might, just might, have got himself in the mix for pole position. Quickly dispatched those cars ahead from fifth on the grid, and the battle with Hamilton was vintage from the pair of them. Maybe could have caught Russell on another day and with better strategy, but second was the best on this day.
Liam Lawson - 9
After missing FP1 for Ayumu Iwasa, Lawson was thereafter 'best of the rest' in every session. Ninth might not be a lot to write home about, but when the eight ahead of you are the Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, and McLarens, ninth is the best you can hope for. Even got P4 in Q1, and beat his team-mate. Excellent weekend.
Arvid Lindblad - 8.5
In the same vein as Lawson, the best he could hope for was ninth, but he fell short of that and kept his team-mate honest in qualifying and the race. A little team orders flare-up was included, but another solid weekend.
Kimi Antonelli - 8
This is earned for his performance throughout the weekend, in which he could claim to be the fastest Mercedes driver. Unlucky with the yellow flag controversy in qualifying, which might have had him on the front-row at worst, but he went off track three times by Turn 1 of Lap 2 and that ultimately cost him in the closing stages against Verstappen.
The bottom five
It was a strange weekend overall in Austria. The team-mates who started the weekend ahead generally stayed there and no driver had an absolute shocker and was well off the pace of the sister car.
That is reflected in the ratings.
Franco Colapinto - 5
Loses two marks to Gasly as he suffered the biggest qualifying deficit of the field, 0.948s, despite both making it to Q2.
Esteban Ocon - 5
Fell even further behind Bearman in the head-to-head in qualifying, and was struggling for balance with the car throughout.
Alex Albon - 5
Firmly behind Sainz all weekend, despite the Spanish racer missing FP1 for Luke Browning. Felt the team "dug its own grave" with changes in qualifying, and was consigned to a point-less weekend where he felt the car could have done well.
Lance Stroll - 5
The best he could do was to out-qualify Alonso again, but he was the only driver not to break 70 seconds in qualifying, before an ERS issue ended his afternoon early.
Valtteri Bottas - 5
A chaacter-building weekend for Cadillac and both drivers. Bottas scores lower than Perez simply based off qualifying, where he was behind once again, but this time by 0.085s, the smallest margin of the season.
| Driver | Race rating | Season average |
|---|---|---|
| George Russell | 9 | 7.9 |
| Max Verstappen | 9 | 7.9 |
| Liam Lawson | 9 | 7.3 |
| Arvid Lindblad | 8.5 | 7.3 |
| Kimi Antonelli | 8 | 8.8 |
| Oscar Piastri | 7.5 | 7 |
| Isack Hadjar | 7.5 | 6.8 |
| Lando Norris | 7.5 | 7.4 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 7 | 7.8 |
| Charles Leclerc | 7 | 6.9 |
| Gabriel Bortoleto | 7 | 6.6 |
| Pierre Gasly | 7 | 7.6 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 6.5 | 6.3 |
| Oliver Bearman | 6 | 6.1 |
| Fernando Alonso | 5.5 | 5.8 |
| Carlos Sainz | 5.5 | 6.3 |
| Sergio Perez | 5.5 | 5.6 |
| Franco Colapinto | 5 | 6.3 |
| Esteban Ocon | 5 | 5.8 |
| Alex Albon | 5 | 5.4 |
| Lance Stroll | 5 | 4.6 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 5 | 5.1 |
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Nick Golding and Samuel Coop as they look ahead to this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix! The discuss if Lewis Hamilton can continue his fine form after entering the title fight and the importance of Red Bull having a strong event at home.
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