(Motorsport-Total.com) – In reality, Oliver Bearman has not yet achieved a podium finish in Formula 1. Virtually, however, he is now a winner: The Haas driver won the reader ranking of Motorsport-Total.com for the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai by the narrowest of margins.
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In the end, 0,01 grade points made the difference: Bearman remained ahead of Lewis Hamilton with an average of 1,59 points, who achieved 1,60 points.
The deciding factor in the three-part evaluation system was the readers: The editorial team had graded Bearman and Hamilton with a two each. Formula 1 expert Marc Surer gave both a one. The decision was therefore made by the readers with an average of 1,76 to 1,81 points in favor of Bearman.
How Surer justifies his grading
Why did Surer pull out the top grade for Bearman? The former Formula 1 driver commented: “It went a bit unnoticed what a great performance he delivered.” Because Bearman shone in both qualifying sessions and both races with top-10 positions for Haas.
Surer also explicitly evaluated Hamilton positively: “It’s so refreshing to see him fighting again! Beating Leclerc in the same car is strong.” Hamilton managed at least “three out of four”: only in the sprint did he rank behind his Ferrari teammate; in both qualifying sessions and the Grand Prix, he was ahead of Leclerc.
Why Antonelli only received a three from the editorial team
This left only third place in the reader ranking for the real Grand Prix winner Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Yet the Mercedes driver was at the top of the readers’ favor after his premiere pole and Formula 1 debut victory: with an average of 1,44 grade points, he achieved the clear best performance in China.
Surer also gave the top grade and said: “For the pole and the victory in the Grand Prix, he deserves a one – but not at all in the sprint.”
The editorial team saw it the same way and graded Antonelli with a three. Deductions were made on the one hand for the weak start in the sprint, which according to Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff was self-inflicted, and on the other hand for the collision with Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar, which earned Antonelli a time penalty. This probably cost Antonelli second place in the sprint and important points in the drivers’ standings.
In addition, while leading the Grand Prix, there was a driving error that could potentially have been costly as well. Antonelli himself stated that the lock-up before the hairpin was like a “heart attack” for him.
The sum of all these own blunders led the editorial team to the final verdict “satisfactory”, although the pure result suggests otherwise.
Nico Hülkenberg with first virtual point 2026
Further back in the field, Audi driver Nico Hülkenberg took part in a Grand Prix for the first time in 2026, but remained without points in eleventh place. In the drivers’ standings, however, his effort was rewarded with tenth place and a virtual point. Overall, Hülkenberg also ended up with a three – here readers, Surer, and the editorial team were very much in agreement.
Shanghai: The driver grades from Marc Surer and the editorial team
In the case of Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas, the editorial team was finally the most merciful with their three. Readers saw him at an average of 3,6 grade points, Surer even at a straight four. Reason: “The faster Cadillac driver this time, but difficult to evaluate in terms of points.” The editorial team positively acknowledged that Bottas had at least left Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin behind him in qualifying.
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In the virtual overall standings – as in reality – Mercedes driver George Russell is in the lead after two race weekends. Bearman moves into second place ahead of Hamilton, followed by Leclerc and Antonelli.
How transparent is driver performance in 2026?
How the editorial team discussed the driver grades after the Chinese Grand Prix will be a topic on Monday evening from 20:30 in the call-in show “Live bei Scheuren” on the Formel1.de Twitch channel. Host Kevin Scheuren invites users to join personally via Zoom and chat with him about the Chinese Grand Prix and Formula 1.
Because there is a lot to discuss even after the race in Shanghai: Can driving performance in 2026 still be evaluated as objectively as in 2025? Or do the many technical aids make a realistic assessment impossible? The core question is: How much are the drivers restricted by the (hybrid) technology?
Click through: How Surer rates the 22 drivers!
How Marc Surer grades the other drivers can be read in detail in an expanded photo gallery. In this photo gallery, both the Formula 1 expert and the editorial team justify their grades for each of the 22 drivers individually. So that users can hopefully understand even better from now on how the driver grades came about.
By the way: Many users want more transparency from the editorial team when it comes to awarding grades. Which is why we have decided to also publish the individual grades of our editors in a separate table. For the overall editorial grade, which makes up pillar 3 of the system, the editorial team agrees on a common full grade in a conference.
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In this conference, which has become a fixed program item for us every Monday morning after Formula 1, things sometimes get heated when different opinions clash. And we collect arguments that speak for or against a better or worse grade.
How we award our grades
The idea behind our grading is to evaluate performance over a weekend and especially in the race with grades (1 = Very good, 6 = Insufficient). External influences that the drivers cannot control themselves should be factored out. And so that it’s not just the editorial team evaluating subjectively, as is the case with football magazines, we have created a total of three equal pillars with the readers and the expert.
And this is how we calculate:
From the average grading of Motorsport-Total.com users, the grading by expert Marc Surer, and the grading by our editorial team, we determine the average. Our driver ranking results from this average value. We only display one decimal place, but for the calculation, we use all decimal places. These partially invisible decimal places determine the order of the ranking of two drivers in the event of a supposed grading tie.
The grades of the individual editors:
We are often asked how our editorial grades come about. All editors of our Formula 1 team first submit their grades individually. In an editorial conference on the morning after the Grand Prix, we then exchange views and agree on common editorial grades, which usually (but not always) reflect the average of the individual editor’s grades. When determining the editorial grades, there is sometimes heated discussion. The goal is to agree on common driver grades that every editor can live with.
Award for the Driver of the Year:
Based on the overall grades of a race weekend, we distribute points for the 2026 annual standings. Analogous to the points system in the real Formula 1 World Championship, the winner receives 25 points, the second 18, the third 15 – down to one point for 10th place. There is no bonus point for the fastest lap. After the end of the season, the driver with the most points will be honored with the Motorsport-Total.com Award for Driver of the Year 2026.
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