Head-to-head · season 2026

ValtteriBottasCadillac vs NicoHulkenbergAudi

HUL leads the grade duel 10–3 — across the 13 rounds both were rated in, the car stripped out of the equation.

VS
#19The Index · 6.86
P19DI championship · 19 pts
0best-of-race
P21official · 0 pts
#17The Index · 7.13
P21DI championship · 16 pts
0best-of-race
P15official · 6 pts

Valtteri Bottas vs Nico Hulkenberg: who is driving better in 2026?

the verdict, from the numbers

Valtteri Bottas drives for Cadillac, Nico Hulkenberg for Audi, so the raw results are not comparable — everything below has car performance taken out of it. Nico Hulkenberg leads on The Index, 7.13 to 6.86 — P17 against P19, a gap of 0.27 of a grade point. Round by round, Nico Hulkenberg has out-driven the other in 10 of 13 races where both were graded. Valtteri Bottas's clearest advantage is Race Start — 7.06 against 6.38. Nico Hulkenberg takes Tyre Management back the other way, 9.99 to 6.50. In the DriverIndex Championship — the same season paid on the official points scale, but on driver merit — Valtteri Bottas sits P19 on 19 points to Nico Hulkenberg's P21 on 16. Officially they stand P21 and P15.

The nine dimensions

season averages, mirrored — the longer bar wins the metric
7.59 B Race Pace 7.31
6.98 C Consistency 7.91
6.26 D Attack & Defence 6.69
6.50 E Tyre Management 9.99
8.09 F Qualifying 8.72
7.06 G Race Start 6.38
7.36 I Cleanliness 8.62

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Race grade, round by round

gaps = not classified