F1 2026 Mexican GP driver rankings: Verstappen shines as penalties reshape results

Max Verstappen set the standard in Mexico City, combining sharp racecraft with strong pace as Red Bull recovered from a difficult Friday. But the weekend’s rankings are more complicated than the finishing order: penalties lifted some drivers, while incidents and mistakes denied others results their pace might have earned. No one put together a flawless weekend.

This is the second instalment of Edd Straw’s tier list format, judging each driver’s individual performance at the Mexican Grand Prix. The ranking weighs the full weekend, including qualifying, race pace, circumstances and errors.

Readers can ask Edd about the rankings in The Race Members' Club, or put together their own list using the visual tool.

Standout drives and hard-earned points

Verstappen’s starts and his defence against Lewis Hamilton were highlights of an incisive drive. A lock-up spoiled his final qualifying lap, but traffic contributed to the problem, so it wasn’t enough to outweigh his race performance. A one-place grid penalty following his Friday encounter with Liam Lawson counted against him, too, though the overall weekend still placed him among the strongest performers.

Hamilton also had a strong weekend, including a first pole position since 2023. His main blemish came at Turn 4, where he and Verstappen both braked too late. Without that moment, Hamilton could have edged ahead of Verstappen in the assessment.

Ryo Hirakawa deserves credit for stepping into Esteban Ocon’s seat and delivering under unusual circumstances. He came close to Q2 before Alex Albon’s turbulent air affected his final Q1 attempt, making the gap to Ollie Bearman look larger than the underlying performance suggested. In the race, Hirakawa passed both Williams drivers late on; penalties then helped turn that drive into a point.

Lawson also converted a difficult position into points. Starting from the pit lane, he made steady progress despite an unhelpful red flag, then charged from 15th at the standing restart to take the midfield lead after penalties were applied.

Sergio Perez’s result was held back by a five-second penalty for exceeding the pit-lane speed limit by 0.2km/h, which his team attributed to a sensor problem. His qualifying set-up wasn’t quite right, but he raced well in the opening stint before a wheelgun issue and the later penalty cost him time.

Good pace, with results left on the table

Bearman had to switch to an older ADUO1-spec Ferrari engine during practice, yet showed strong speed. A track limits violation blunted his qualifying result, and his race ended when Nico Hulkenberg hit him from behind. In ordinary circumstances, Bearman would have ranked above team-mate Hirakawa, but the assessment accounts for Hirakawa’s unusual step-in role.

Kimi Antonelli, who clinched the world championship, was unwell and short of qualifying pace compared with George Russell. His race was tidy: he ran long and pitted shortly before the red flag, then reached the podium to celebrate the title.

Gabriel Bortoleto had little preparation after sitting out FP1 and running into trouble in both FP2 and FP3, leaving him only three flying laps before qualifying. He responded with the sixth-fastest Q1 time and managed a race set-up he described as “a bit blind”. Penalties moved him from 11th on the road to eighth.

Fernando Alonso’s weekend is harder to score because problems curtailed both qualifying and the race. His pace looked capable of taking him higher, but the limited evidence makes a middle ranking the fairest call. Lance Stroll also had restricted chances to show his form, though he completed all of Q1 and was 0.164 seconds slower than his team-mate.

Lando Norris couldn’t carry his Q2 form into Q3 in a McLaren that was difficult to drive. He finished in a respectable position, but his grid slot fell short of what looked possible, and he might have passed Charles Leclerc late in the race.

Albon had limited machinery to work with. Carlos Sainz beat him in qualifying, although Albon said traffic cost him the turbo speed he needed at the start of his final lap, which he otherwise rated among his best of the season. Albon had the edge in the race, but losing a position to Hirakawa late on cost him a point.

Arvid Lindblad had a hand in the Turn 1 clash with Oscar Piastri after making a late move under braking, but stewards held Piastri responsible for the collision that followed. Lindblad showed pace, particularly in Q2, and felt he had more to give in Q3. Isack Hadjar likewise had to recover from trouble: after a messy qualifying lap, he spun on the first lap following contact with Russell. Stewards blamed Russell, though Hadjar might have left more room after they ran alongside each other through Turn 5. Hadjar raced well despite poor luck and finished ninth after penalties.

Sainz’s qualifying advantage over Albon was shaped by his team-mate’s traffic-affected lap; Sainz was slower for much of the session. A difficult race followed, though the two finished close together. Valtteri Bottas, whose grid penalty made him a tow for Perez in qualifying, lacked Perez’s pace. He was running a tidy race until a front-left suspension failure ended it.

Mistakes that changed the verdict

Russell’s Q3 lap was strong enough to suggest pole might have been possible with a suitable fuel load. A deployment problem at the start, which wasn’t his fault, shaped the rest of his weekend. Still, he could have been more measured in his fight with Hadjar: the resulting penalty contributed to his sixth-place finish. With the power delivered properly at the start, Russell might have challenged for victory, a missed opportunity that fits the pattern of his season.

Franco Colapinto was behind Pierre Gasly on Friday and Saturday, but a strong opening lap put him on course for eighth on the road. A 10-second penalty for failing to respond to a single yellow flag on the run out of Turn 3 pulled down his ranking. It was a smaller error than Gasly’s, but costly all the same.

Leclerc had the pace to match Hamilton, perhaps with a slight edge, but didn’t convert it. Poor tyre preparation on his final qualifying run likely cost him pole. In the race, a late-braking move around the outside at Turn 4 contributed to the circumstances in which Ferrari lost the race. At the restart, he locked up at Turn 1 while trying to attack Hamilton on the inside, flat-spotting a tyre he had to use to the finish.

Piastri’s pace was better than his result suggests, and he recovered well from a baffling Q2. Yet the qualifying struggle counts against him, as does the clash with Lindblad. Piastri could argue that Lindblad’s late braking forced him around the outside, but the move still left him exposed under the racing guidelines and the resulting penalty cost him a solid finish.

Gasly had been competitive through Friday and Saturday, but a deployment problem hurt his start. He recovered well despite an early pit stop, then threw away the chance of a good result by failing to respect double-waved yellow flags and taking a penalty.

Hulkenberg’s weekend was derailed by one mistake at the restart. Caught by the concertina effect while battling Lawson through Turn 4, he hit Bearman from behind. The congestion made the error understandable, but it was avoidable and turned a weekend that looked headed for the top half into a damaging result. In Mexico City, as across several of these rankings, a driver’s pace mattered less than whether they could convert it cleanly.