2026 Japanese GP: Driver performance rating

Drivers and teams earn points based on their finishing positions in each race, which ultimately determines their championship standings. However, these points do not always reflect their true performance.

At Racemind, we evaluate each race weekend by analyzing drivers’ performances from multiple perspectives. While there is some subjectivity in the points we assign, we aim to reach an objective assessment by considering various factors.

We also consider a driver’s performance in qualifying (and in sprint-format weekends, the sprint qualifying and sprint race) when assigning points. Each main session is graded separately on a 10-point scale. The final score is calculated as follows:

• Standard weekends: Qualifying points × 0.4 + Race points × 0.6
• Sprint weekends: Sprint qualifying × 0.1 + Sprint race × 0.2 + Qualifying × 0.3 + Race × 0.4

Driver performance highlights from the Suzuka weekend:

Pierre Gasly – 8.3. The French driver has been performing excellently this season. This is evident in the performance gap with his teammate. In qualifying, Gasly secured a strong position, and during the race, he kept Max Verstappen behind him, never letting him get within attack range. He seems to have extracted the maximum from his car.

Oscar Piastri – 8. McLaren is gradually improving. Last season, Piastri was a title contender for much of the year but ended up finishing third in the championship. This year, he missed the start of the first two races, but at Suzuka, he outperformed his teammate both in qualifying and the race, finishing on the podium.

Kimi Antonelli – 7.9. The young Mercedes driver has won consecutive poles and races. Of course, some luck contributed, such as Russell’s sudden qualifying issue in China and a drop due to the Safety Car here. With a better start at Suzuka, he could have scored even higher in this ranking.

You can find the full table of all drivers’ performance points for the Melbourne weekend below.