What Makes the Best F1 Driver? A Data‐Driven Breakdown
- Armaan Martins
- Nov 2
- 2 min read
In the high-stakes world of Formula One, greatness is about how a driver performs relative to everything else: the car, the teammate, the conditions. Below we explore the metrics that matter and how recent data highlights who is really excelling.
Traditional Metrics of Greatness
Championships & Wins sit at the front of any fan’s “greatness” list, but they must be viewed in context. For example, in 2025 Max Verstappen has a dominant performance vs his team-mates: in head-to-head battles, he’s unbeaten against siblings like Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson. Qualifying: 17-0 vs Tsunoda with ~0.75 s average gap. (RacingNews365)
Head-to-head vs Lewis Hamilton in 2025: Verstappen is ahead in every category (wins, podiums, poles) in their shared races. (formula1points.com)
These data emphasise that raw wins/titles must be adjusted for machinery and intra-team comparison.
Modern Analytical Metrics
Driver vs teammate is one of the fairest ways to isolate driver skill. After all, the teammate typically has the same car.
• Verstappen’s “average points / team battle” in 2025: ~2.57, highest on the grid by some margin. (formula1points.com)
• Qualifying gap vs Tsunoda: ~+0.752 s on average, average grid position 2.8 vs 13.1 (RacingNews365)
Win/Podium Conversion and Efficiency are also key: how often does a driver turn a strong position into a victory or podium? While full conversion rates for 2025 are still channelled into race data, the head-to-head record emphasises an ability to extractperformance.
Adaptability shows in wet/dry, new cars/regulations, team changes. While 2025’s specialist data on weather deltas are less accessible, standout drivers in 2025 still show lower variance in performance across conditions and stronger intra-team dominance.
The Car-Factor & Adjusted Greatness
A subtle but essential point: much of a driver’s result is determined by the car. Research suggests that constructors explain a large percentage of variance in outcomes (~60-90 %) in F1. (Arxiv.com)
Thus, a top driver is outperforming their machinery and teammate.
In 2025: Verstappen scores nearly all of his team’s points in many races, showing strong extraction. (Formula1.com)
Greatness Index – Simple Model
The key takeaway: while Hamilton remains elite, Verstappen’s intra-team dominance and relative performance improvements give him an edge in 2025.
Final Thoughts
The “Best” F1 driver is one who:
• Maximises every lap (speed)
• Delivers season-after-season (consistency)
• Adapts to changing cars, conditions, teams (adaptability)
• Converts opportunities into wins/podiums (efficiency)
• Outperforms his teammate and extracts more from the same machine
In 2025 the numbers point to Verstappen
Thanks for all the insights! It’s been great seeing how the data angle sparked discussion, especially around how analytics fits into a sport as intense and instinct-driven as F1.
Really interesting way of looking at it and using data to inform strategies and performance! In such a high stake sport, it does make sense.
Excellent use of data. You clearly identified that "Driver vs teammate" is the most critical metric. The difference between Verstappen's and Tsunoda's qualifying gaps (~0.752 s) is staggering and makes a powerful case for your final conclusion.
Really cool breakdown, F1 is more complex than people think.
Great read, Armaan. Love how you used data to cut through the hype.