Head-to-head · season 2026

LiamLawsonRacing Bulls vs CarlosSainzWilliams

Liam Lawson leads 8–7 in the race-grade duel, across the rounds both were rated in.

#16The Index · 7.54

P17DriverIndex Championship · 35 pts

P9Official · 68 pts

#12The Index · 8.08

P10DriverIndex Championship · 79 pts

P16Official · 7 pts

Round by round

the race grade decides each round · click a round for the full analysis

MEL 6.5 7.3 SHA 8.4 9.0 SUZ 8.4 8.3 MIA – 8.5 CAN 7.6 9.1 MON 8.3 8.0 ESP 7.3 8.8 AUT 7.9 – GBR 8.3 7.5 SPA 6.8 7.8 HUN 8.1 7.8 NED 7.6 6.4 ITA 7.9 9.2 MAD 7.4 6.4 BAK 8.3 7.6 MAL 9.0 8.2 SIN 8.1 8.4

The nine dimensions

season grades, mirrored — the longer bar wins the measure

8.40 OVD Overdelivery 7.49

6.98 PAC Race Pace 8.03

9.02 CON Consistency 8.05

8.16 ATK Attack & Defence 7.47

8.68 TYR Tyre Management 7.47

8.18 QUA Qualifying 9.39

9.26 STA Race Start 9.27

7.92 PIT Pit Stop Execution 7.41

8.80 CLN Cleanliness 7.71

Race grade, round by round

gaps = not classified

Liam Lawson vs Carlos Sainz: who is driving better in 2026?

Liam Lawson drives for Racing Bulls, Carlos Sainz for Williams, so the raw results are not comparable — everything on this page has car performance taken out of it. Carlos Sainz leads on The Index, 8.08 to 7.54 — P12 against P16, a gap of 0.54 of a grade point. Round by round, Liam Lawson has out-driven the other in 8 of 15 races where both were graded. Liam Lawson's clearest advantage is Tyre Management — 8.68 against 7.47. Carlos Sainz takes Qualifying back the other way, 9.39 to 8.18. They are effectively inseparable on Race Start. In the DriverIndex Championship — the same season paid on the official points scale, but on driver merit — Carlos Sainz sits P10 on 79 points to Liam Lawson's P17 on 35. Officially they stand P16 and P9.