F1 Drivers Championship Preview & Betting Guide

2026 Formula 1 Drivers Championship

Increase on the Grid

The biggest change ahead of the 2026 season is the increase in the number of teams, we have one from 10 to 11, meaning 22 cars on the grid.

That is after the introduction of Cadillac, which, for the 2026 season, will be using a Ferrari power unit and bring in Perez and Bottas as drivers.

Sauber is no more having finished in 2025, and they have been taken over by Audi, which is another new name to the grid and the second German constructor.

Regulation Changes

There are changes to the power units with the MGU-H (Heat) being removed and the MGU-K (Kinetic) output being increased.

There are all sorts of aerodynamic changes coming into force this season, the cars are smaller, lighter, with narrower tyres and tests show around two seconds slower than last year.

The changes are in the hope that we will get more battles on track, with the idea is making the cars much easier to follow closely to each other.

Let's hope that is the case because another change is DRS, which is in the bin; it will no longer be used, and that has been crucial for overtakes in the past few seasons.

2026 Season Preview

Lando became the 35th driver to win the F1 Drivers World Championship, and 17 of the other 34, that is 50% failed to win a 2nd! That is just to highlight how tough it is to win a title in the first place and then to win another!

It will be interesting to see how the partnership between him and Oscar goes in 2026. Oscar has age on his side and is continuously progressing and will no doubt have his say in the title race once again.

Purely based on the second half of the 2025 season, you would have to say that Max would be one of the favourites for 2026. He was superb and almost pulled off a remarkable turnaround in the driver's championship.

Of course, with the major changes to the cars, it is hard to judge before pre-season testing just who will hit the ground running this year, so that will be interesting, especially how Cadillac are going to do in their first season with the experience they have gone with in their seats.

The sprint points could prove valuable this season, some of the moves don't really favour Max, he doesn't have the best records at the Chinese, British and Singapore GPs, which have been awarded sprint races.

In terms of the calendar, we have lost the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix has a new home in Madrid at a new street circuit, and the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix has been added to the calendar, with the Catalunya circuit being used for that.

Driver Changes for 2026

There is not a massive lot of change in terms of drivers; of the 20 drivers who started the 2025 season, Yuki Tsunoda and Jack Doohan are the two who drop out.

Yuki Tsunoda started the season at Racing Bulls before being promoted to Red Bull, but has not been dropped to the test/reserve driver for Red Bull.

Jack Doohan started his F1 career with Alpine, which lasted just six races, where he was replaced and has not been given a seat for 2026.

Yuki's seat at Red Bull has been given to Isack Hadjar, who is promoted from the Racing Bulls and will be Max's teammate for this season.

That left a seat open at the Racing Bulls, one not given to Yuki; they have gone a different route with Arvid Lindblad making the step up from F2.

With Cadillac joining the grid in 2026, we will now have 22 drivers instead of 20 on the grid, and they have gone for experience, bringing back to the grid both Sergio Pérez & Valtteri Bottas.

Formula 1 Drivers Championship 2026 06 Dec @ 13:00 - Win Tournament
Max Verstappen	3.50
Lando Norris	3.75
George Russell	4.00
Oscar Piastri	7.00
Kimi Antonelli	12.00
Fernando Alonso	21.00

2026 F1 Calendar

Here is the schedule for the 2026 season, which is due to have the full twenty-four rounds with the Chinese, Miami, Canadian, British, Dutch, and Singapore weekends all set to host sprint races.

F1 Drivers Championship Standings for 2026

Here are the latest standings for the 2026 F1 drivers' championship, with Lando looking to successfully retain his first drivers' championship.

2025 Formula 1 Season Recap

The 2025 calendar season included twenty-four races, which were the same as the previous season. The Australian Grand Prix returned to the season opener for the first time since 2019.

The first three races indicated it would be a close season with three different winners. Lando opened up in Australia with a win, Oscar, who disappointed in his home Grand Prix (9th), was much better in China, runner-up in the sprint before winning the main race, and then in Japan, it was Max's turn to record a win.

Meaning, after three rounds, there was no real standout driver; however, that was about to change! Oscar went on to win in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and then in Miami, he was runner-up in the sprint before winning the main race to make it three wins on the bounce.

After just six rounds, he had opened up a 16-point lead over Lando and 32 points over Max. However, he only went on to win one of the next six GPs, with a win in Spain, and during that time, Lando picked up three wins, which meant at the halfway stage, Oscar's lead was dwindling.

Half-Way Championship Standings

1. 234 pts - Oscar Piastri
2. 226 pts - Lando Norris
3. 165 pts - Max Verstappen
4. 147 pts - George Russell
5. 119 pts - Charles Leclerc

Oscar has five wins in the first twelve races, which gave him that lead after the British Grand Prix, the halfway point of the season; however, whilst he would have been happy with his first half, his second half was not brilliant, as he only went on to win two races!

The second half of the season was all about the Max resurgent! Heading into round 16 in Italy, Max sat 104 points behind the leader Oscar, but with six wins in the final nine races, he closed down Oscar and even passed him in the final standings!

His problem was Lando, he was only 70 points behind when heading to Italy, and Lando was having car issues, having failed to finish the race before and went on a run of five without a win. He did have a good South America, which probably clinched him the title with wins in Mexico and Brazil.

Max was given further hope when both McLarens were disqualified in Vegas; however, despite winning the final three GP's, Max came up 2 points short of Lando in the Drivers' Championship.

Final Drivers Championship Standings

1. 423 pts - Lando Norris
2. 421 pts - Max Verstappen
3. 410 pts - Oscar Piastri
4. 319 pts - George Russell
5. 242 pts - Charles Leclerc

Formula One Driver Records

The 400+ Club

Fernando Alonso, who is now on 425 starts, during the 2024 season, became the first driver ever to make over 400 starts. He made his debut at Albert Park in 2001 during the Australian Grand Prix when finishing 2 laps down in 12th place for Minardi, and it was the Qatar Grand Prix in 2024 which saw his 400th start, finishing in 7th place for Aston Martin. The closest driver to him is Lewis Hamilton with 380 starts before the 2026 season, whilst with the return of Sergio Pérez, he could close down on the top five; he is on 281 heading into the 2026 season.

1. Fernando Alonso (425 starts from 428 entries)
2. Lewis Hamilton (380 starts from 380 entries)
3. Kimi Raikkonen (349 starts from 353 entries)
4. Rubens Barrichello (322 starts from 326 entries)
5. Jenson Button (306 starts from 309 entries)
6. Michael Schumacher (306 starts from 308 entries)

Most consecutive race entries

Rubens Barrichello's 326 consecutive race entries between 1993 and 2011 look safe for the time being. After Lewis Hamilton missed a race in 2020, his run of 265 came to an end, and ahead of him, Vettel's run came to an end in the opening GP of 2022, when he missed the race due to illness, having made 280 consecutive race entries. There are two ongoing runs just outside the top five, with both Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz having 233 consecutive race entries. If they both make all the races this season, they will move ahead of Coulthard and Bottas.

1. Rubens Barrichello (326)
2. Sebastian Vettel (280)
3. Lewis Hamilton (265)
4. Valtteri Bottas (247)
5. David Coulthard (239)

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The one and only in the 100 Club

During the 2021 season, Lewis Hamilton became the first-ever driver to record 100 wins. He has now won 105 races, which is now some fourteen clear of Michael Schumacher and thirty-four ahead of the next active driver, which is Max Verstappen, on 71 wins, but Max continues to close that gap with each season.

1. Lewis Hamilton (105 wins)
2. Michael Schumacher (91 wins)
3. Max Verstappen (71 wins)
4. Sebastian Vettel (53 wins)
5. Alain Prost (51 wins)

Lewis is closing in on Schumacher

Now, Lewis will not be achieving this in 2026 unless he sets an unprecedented number of fastest laps but it is a record that he could take a large chunk out of during the season, that is for fastest laps, Michael Schumacher currently holds the record with seventy-seven and Lewis some nine behind him on sixty-eight, this is going to be a hard record to snatch from Schuey with time running out for Hamilton.

1. Michael Schumacher (77 Fastest Laps)
2. Lewis Hamilton (68 Fastest Laps)
3. Kimi Räikkönen (46 Fastest Laps)
4. Alain Prost (41 Fastest Laps)
5. Sebastian Vettel (38 Fastest Laps)

Total races finished in the points

Lewis increased his number and now has a total of 334 points finishes after passing the 300 mark during the 2024 season. Fernando Alonso also increased his number to 275, and they is the only two active driver in the top five. Looking further down the list, Max (197) is sixth.

1. Lewis Hamilton (334)
2. Fernando Alonso (275)
3. Michael Schumacher (221)
4. Kimi Raikkonen (219)
5. Sebastian Vettel (219)