Head-to-head · season 2026

KimiAntonelliMercedes vs NicoHulkenbergAudi

ANT leads the grade duel 11–2 — across the 13 rounds both were rated in, the car stripped out of the equation.

VS
#2The Index · 9.50
P3DI championship · 118 pts
2best-of-race
P1official · 241 pts
#17The Index · 7.13
P21DI championship · 16 pts
0best-of-race
P15official · 6 pts

Kimi Antonelli vs Nico Hulkenberg: who is driving better in 2026?

the verdict, from the numbers

Kimi Antonelli drives for Mercedes, Nico Hulkenberg for Audi, so the raw results are not comparable — everything below has car performance taken out of it. Kimi Antonelli leads on The Index, 9.50 to 7.13 — P2 against P17, a gap of 2.37 of a grade point. Round by round, Kimi Antonelli has out-driven the other in 11 of 13 races where both were graded. Kimi Antonelli's clearest advantage is Race Pace — 9.60 against 7.31. Nico Hulkenberg takes Pit Stop Execution back the other way, 9.12 to 8.10. They are effectively inseparable on Qualifying. In the DriverIndex Championship — the same season paid on the official points scale, but on driver merit — Kimi Antonelli sits P3 on 118 points to Nico Hulkenberg's P21 on 16. Officially they stand P1 and P15.

The nine dimensions

season averages, mirrored — the longer bar wins the metric
9.60 B Race Pace 7.31
9.30 C Consistency 7.91
8.81 D Attack & Defence 6.69
9.14 E Tyre Management 9.99
8.75 F Qualifying 8.72
7.37 G Race Start 6.38
7.84 I Cleanliness 8.62

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Race grade, round by round

gaps = not classified