Head-to-head · season 2026

LandoNorrisMcLaren vs MaxVerstappenRed Bull Racing

VER leads the grade duel 9–4 — across the 13 rounds both were rated in, the car stripped out of the equation.

VS
#4The Index · 9.25
P4DI championship · 109 pts
1best-of-race
P4official · 139 pts
#1The Index · 9.79
P1DI championship · 139 pts
2best-of-race
P6official · 115 pts

Lando Norris vs Max Verstappen: who is driving better in 2026?

the verdict, from the numbers

Lando Norris drives for McLaren, 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 9.25 — P1 against P4, a gap of 0.54 of a grade point. Round by round, Max Verstappen has out-driven the other in 9 of 13 races where both were graded. Lando Norris's clearest advantage is Race Start — 8.18 against 7.24. Max Verstappen takes Pit Stop Execution back the other way, 8.43 to 6.78. 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 Lando Norris's P4 on 109. Officially they stand P6 and P4.

The nine dimensions

season averages, mirrored — the longer bar wins the metric
9.11 A Expected Position 10.00
9.06 B Race Pace 9.84
9.15 C Consistency 9.34
8.43 D Attack & Defence 9.83
8.33 E Tyre Management 7.89
8.16 F Qualifying 8.60
8.18 G Race Start 7.24
8.70 I Cleanliness 8.51

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Race grade, round by round

gaps = not classified