Head-to-head · season 2026

CharlesLeclercFerrari vs MaxVerstappenRed Bull Racing

VER leads the grade duel 7–6 — across the 13 rounds both were rated in, the car stripped out of the equation.

VS
#3The Index · 9.37
P2DI championship · 130 pts
2best-of-race
P5official · 127 pts
#1The Index · 9.79
P1DI championship · 139 pts
2best-of-race
P6official · 115 pts

Charles Leclerc vs Max Verstappen: who is driving better in 2026?

the verdict, from the numbers

Charles Leclerc drives for Ferrari, 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 9.37 — P1 against P3, a gap of 0.43 of a grade point. Round by round, Max Verstappen has out-driven the other in 7 of 13 races where both were graded. Charles Leclerc's clearest advantage is Race Start — 9.68 against 7.24. Max Verstappen takes Attack & Defence back the other way, 9.83 to 7.52. They are effectively inseparable on Cleanliness. 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 Charles Leclerc's P2 on 130. Officially they stand P6 and P5.

The nine dimensions

season averages, mirrored — the longer bar wins the metric
9.05 A Expected Position 10.00
9.63 B Race Pace 9.84
8.63 C Consistency 9.34
7.52 D Attack & Defence 9.83
8.09 E Tyre Management 7.89
8.18 F Qualifying 8.60
9.68 G Race Start 7.24
8.44 I Cleanliness 8.51

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Race grade, round by round

gaps = not classified