LiamLawsonRed Bull Racing vs GeorgeRussellMercedes
RUS leads the grade duel 8–5 — across the 13 rounds both were rated in, the car stripped out of the equation.
Liam Lawson vs George Russell: who is driving better in 2026?
the verdict, from the numbersLiam Lawson drives for Red Bull Racing, George Russell for Mercedes, so the raw results are not comparable — everything below has car performance taken out of it. George Russell leads on The Index, 7.60 to 7.37 — P13 against P14, a gap of 0.23 of a grade point. Round by round, George Russell has out-driven the other in 8 of 13 races where both were graded. Liam Lawson's clearest advantage is Race Start — 9.13 against 6.86. George Russell takes Race Pace back the other way, 8.23 to 6.81. They are effectively inseparable on Attack & Defence. In the DriverIndex Championship — the same season paid on the official points scale, but on driver merit — George Russell sits P15 on 28 points to Liam Lawson's P16 on 27. Officially they stand P3 and P9.