Which Driver Is Gonna Be Ahead In 2026?

[teal bay]

Why does Verstappen have so many votes? Ford RBPT will literally be the worst engine next year and Mercedes will be the best!

[uneven berry]

look at what max did with his not-that-fast 2025 red bull car

[teal bay]

Look how he didn't wipe the floor with everyone until the second half of 2022

Note how Perez wasn't that far off from Verstappen performance wise until the second half of 2023

That was the car getting less driveable for Perez, not slower. If it got slower then Verstappen would have won even more races in 2018 and 2021-22

Because no, Ricciardo wasn't that far off from Verstappen in 2018, he just kept falling victim to mechanical failures

If Max were that Godlike of a driver then surely he would have won 3 more championships than he had

Or at least won 1 and challenged for 2

[teal bay]

So going by that logic, there is absolutely no way Verstappen would have wiped the floor with everyone at COTA (a very downforce oriented track by the way) if his car were on the same level as the Sauber

I am not saying that Verstappen is not an amazing driver, what I am saying is that challenging for the title in the 7th fastest car is something impossible for someone who doesn't have godlike powers

I do think Verstappen will finish in the points very often, especially on downforce oriented tracks, probably even get a win or 2, but a title challenge is out of the question

[uneven berry]

red bull will probably be the 4th or 5th fastest car and definitely not a tractor

[teal bay]

Ferrari and Williams will have better engines