Head-to-head · season 2026

ValtteriBottasCadillac vs MaxVerstappenRed Bull Racing

VER leads the grade duel 11–2 — 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
#1The Index · 9.79
P1DI championship · 139 pts
2best-of-race
P6official · 115 pts

Valtteri Bottas vs Max Verstappen: who is driving better in 2026?

the verdict, from the numbers

Valtteri Bottas drives for Cadillac, Max Verstappen for Red Bull Racing, so the raw results are not comparable — everything below has car performance taken out of it. Max Verstappen leads on The Index, 9.79 to 6.86 — P1 against P19, a gap of 2.93 of a grade point. Round by round, Max Verstappen has out-driven the other in 11 of 13 races where both were graded. Max Verstappen takes Attack & Defence back the other way, 9.83 to 6.26. In the DriverIndex Championship — the same season paid on the official points scale, but on driver merit — Max Verstappen sits P1 on 139 points to Valtteri Bottas's P19 on 19. Officially they stand P6 and P21.

The nine dimensions

season averages, mirrored — the longer bar wins the metric
7.16 A Expected Position 10.00
7.59 B Race Pace 9.84
6.98 C Consistency 9.34
6.26 D Attack & Defence 9.83
6.50 E Tyre Management 7.89
8.09 F Qualifying 8.60
7.06 G Race Start 7.24
7.36 I Cleanliness 8.51

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Race grade, round by round

gaps = not classified