Who had the BEST junior career on the 2026 F1 grid?

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2026 is a year of big change for Formula 1. Sweeping new technical regulations mean that ground effect has once again disappeared and we are now in the era of active aero. We have our first new circuit in three years. One team being bought out by a major manufacturer and the arrival of a completely new one means we have our first 11-team grid in 10 years. Regarding drivers, there is more continuity, as there is only one new face, but also the return of two old ones. A strong contrast from 2025, which had, depending on your definition of a rookie, anywhere from three to seven new drivers. These 22 drivers have all had to put in the hard graft, and make a lot of sacrifices, both personal and financial, to get to the top, but ultimately all got their seats in Formula 1 for a reason. Last year, I made a video ranking the junior careers of every Formula 1 driver on the 2025 grid. With the first race week of 2026 upon us, I thought I would revisit this and rank the junior careers of every Formula 1 driver on the 2026 grid. I’ll be factoring in how they performed in their early karting years, and then what, if any, titles they won in single seaters, with what teams they won them, and who they had to beat to win them. With lights out in Australia only a few days away, consider this your introduction to the Formula 1 class of 2026. With that out of the way, here is a comprehensive ranking of every 2026 Formula 1 driver’s junior career.

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Music:

Golden Hour – Telecasted
Gran Turismo Mode 1 – Isamu Ohira
Heaven and Hell – Jeremy Blake
Dark Line – Satoshi Bando

DISCLAIMER: Special mention to all the original sources of certain clips used in my videos. Please do check out their content for the full videos.

Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. There are certain scenes from the Formula 1 calendar where race footage is used. All those rights are property of FOM. Other photos and news elements are used solely for the purpose of assisting the original content and to illuminate a more in depth story.

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction
1:30 22nd-16th
33:25 15th-11th
50:45 10th-6th
1:08:07 5th-1st

#f1 #formula1 #f12026