F1 Driver Form 2026: Verstappen Out-Scored Everyone

F1 driver form in 2026 has a clear leader over the last five rounds, and he is not leading the championship. Max Verstappen scored 101 points in the Grand Prix results of rounds 13 to 17, Italy to Singapore, eight more than Kimi Antonelli's 93, according to GridRaces data. Nobody else reached 60. George Russell collected 55 and Charles Leclerc 54. Verstappen won the last two rounds in that window, Antonelli the first two, and Russell took the one in the middle.

Who has the best F1 driver form in 2026?

Start with the table, because it is lopsided. After the top two there is a canyon, and then a pack: Russell 55, Leclerc 54, Lando Norris 41, Lewis Hamilton 39, Oscar Piastri 32. These are points from Grand Prix results only, in rounds where GridRaces holds scored data. Austin, the next round, is not in that dataset, so everything below stops at Singapore.

Two drivers are running a different race from everyone else. Verstappen and Antonelli each won twice, and their average finishing positions show how rarely either left points on the table: 1.8 for Verstappen, 2.4 for Antonelli. Verstappen stood on the podium in all five rounds. Antonelli in four.

Verstappen: from third to first in five weekends

The shape of Verstappen's run is the story. Third in round 13. Second in round 14. Second in round 15, after starting eighth. Then wins in rounds 16 and 17, both from first on the grid.

That sequence matters because it is a climb, not a plateau. He moved up one step at a time until there was no step left. Both of his 2026 wins through round 17 landed in this window's final two rounds, so the form is recent enough to carry into Mexico City. Our report on how his Austin win streak ended at two covers what came next: Antonelli won in Austin, according to RacingNews365, so the run did not extend.

Antonelli: the driver who keeps starting in the wrong place

Antonelli's 93 points hide an odd rhythm. He won round 13 after starting 19th. He won round 14 from second on the grid. Then came a P5 in round 15 from 16th on the grid, a P2 from third and a P3 from fourth.

That is not a driver in decline. It is a driver who keeps being handed awkward grid slots and keeps converting them into points. If form is judged by how far you travel from where you begin, his window is arguably as strong as Verstappen's. The one dent is round 15, where a start from 16th capped what the race could give him.

What happened to George Russell?

Russell's window is a roller coaster with a hole in it. P2, P5, a win in round 15, then P20 with no points in round 16, then P9 in round 17 after starting 19th. Add it up and 55 points sounds respectable. Read it as a trend and it is not, because the last two entries are his weakest of the window.

For the team picture, our look at Mercedes' six defeats argues the two Mercedes cars have been losing for different reasons. This window fits that: Antonelli's results hold up, Russell's do not.

The pack in the middle

Leclerc's 54 points came from four scoring finishes in a row, P4, P4, P4 and then P2 in Singapore. Quiet, steady and easy to overlook. Norris, by contrast, started round 14 from the front of the grid and finished third, so his 41 points include a lead he did not keep. Hamilton's 39 contain exactly one podium, a P3 in round 16. Piastri's 32 never reached the podium.

None of that is damning. It does mean that the four-way group behind the top two has been separated by results rather than by any clear speed gap.

The counter-argument: five rounds is not a season

The obvious objection is sample size. Five races is a short stretch, and a single bad weekend, like Russell's round 16, moves the table by an entire place.

Fair. But recent form earns attention for a practical reason: it is the only measure that tracks the current car at the current development stage. Season totals include the early rounds, before upgrades and before drivers adapted. For a weekend like Mexico City, the last five rounds say more about who arrives with momentum than a table that begins in March.

The verdict for Mexico City

Verstappen is the form driver by points. Antonelli is the form driver by degree of difficulty. Those are different claims, and the space between them is where Mexico City gets interesting. Our read: Verstappen will be fastest more often than his championship position suggests, and Antonelli will be harder to beat than any single result shows.

You can check both drivers' lap-by-lap pace on our telemetry page, watch the standings shift on the standings page, and decide which of them you would put your Energy on in the predictions.