While drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly have started the new F1 season with a clean slate, there have been several others whose on-track outings in the early rounds of 2026 have been nothing short of disappointing.
With the majority of the teams battling reliability concerns as they try to get to grips with the brand-new technical regulations, satisfactorily evaluating the performances of all 22 drivers has been a challenging exercise.
Nonetheless, here are the 5 drivers who have proven to be unimpressive so far in the first three rounds of the 2026 F1 season: Franco Colapinto, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Esteban Ocon, and Alex Albon.
Colapinto once again a step behind Gasly
Given that Alpine offered Franco Colapinto an extension ahead of the 2025 São Paulo GP, the Argentine driver undoubtedly got a new lease of life at the pinnacle of motorsport following a rather difficult campaign that saw him score zero points.
However, it’s Gasly—not Colapinto—who has made the most of the new regulations as the French outfit switched to Mercedes power units in 2026.
After qualifying in P16, the 22-year-old received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for a starting procedure infringement at the beginning of the Australian GP. Granted that the sanction somewhat compromised his race, he was nevertheless well adrift of Gasly and ultimately crossed the line two laps down in fourteenth place.
In Shanghai, Colapinto, unlike his teammate, failed to reach the final segment of qualifying. Even though his P10 finish after a solid start was partly down to an ill-timed Safety Car and Esteban Ocon crashing into him, finishing 49 seconds behind his teammate was still an underwhelming outcome.
Colapinto experienced yet another Q2 exit at Suzuka. In Sunday’s race, he struggled for pace, was involved in a sketchy near miss with Ollie Bearman, and took the chequered flag in a lowly sixteenth place—over 33 seconds behind Gasly in P7.
The 2020 Italian GP winner has finished in the top ten in all three rounds of the 2026 season so far and now sits in front of Max Verstappen in the drivers’ standings. In contrast to the Frenchman’s tally of 15 points, Colapinto only has one under his belt.
Considering how Gasly has clearly outperformed Colapinto by a considerable margin until now, the Argentine’s disappointing on-track showing—without signs of swift improvement—might lead to Alpine demoting him to a reserve driver role once more before the 2026 F1 campaign comes to a close.
Verstappen struggling to adapt to the RB22 and the 2026 F1 regulations
Although Max Verstappen has been vehemently critical of the new F1 ruleset and the Mario Kart-esque racing it produces, the RB22 has further compounded the Red Bull driver’s disappointing start to the 2026 season.
Isack Hadjar qualified third against all expectations in Melbourne. Meanwhile, Verstappen encountered a high-speed crash due to the car completely locking the rear axles and was unable to even set a time. In the end, a solid recovery drive to P6 wasn’t enough to placate him following a terrible start and the substantial tyre degradation he experienced during the race.
After failing to overtake Bearman and score a point in the Sprint race, Verstappen’s tussle with the new regulations continued on Saturday, and he found himself slower than Gasly over a flying lap in China. Unfortunately, his weekend took a turn for the worse on Sunday since an ERS coolant failure forced him to retire after 45 laps. Grabbing a handful of points, however, would’ve been quite difficult anyway given the Dutchman’s poor launch off the line and the noticeable lack of pace.
Struggling to get to grips with the RB22’s balance, Verstappen registered a Q2 exit at Suzuka as his teammate set the eighth-fastest time. On Sunday, he lacked momentum throughout the race and only managed a P8 finish, unable to get past Gasly’s Alpine.
The four-time champion is no stranger to extracting performance from unruly cars. Therefore, it’s really hard to believe that the driver who made a stupendous comeback and nearly won the title last year is currently languishing in ninth place in the standings.
Should we then perhaps ask whether Verstappen’s sheer dislike of the 2026 regulations is holding him back from getting on top of them and making him fare worse than expected?
Not the ideal start for the reigning world champion, Norris
While reliability issues are partly responsible for his fifth position in the drivers’ standings right now, Lando Norris’s performance in the first three rounds was nothing to rave about either way.
After qualifying behind his teammate in Australia, the Brit held Verstappen off in the closing laps but came home in an unimpressive fifth place, a whopping 51.741 seconds adrift of George Russell.
The Sprint qualifying in Shanghai saw Norris claim P3, which he then failed to convert into a top-three finish in the Sprint race. The rest of his weekend didn’t perk up, and Oscar Piastri outpaced him over a single lap yet again on Saturday. The next day, both McLaren drivers were unable to start the race due to technical issues.
Granted that a hydraulic leak and an ERS problem in two practice sessions had somewhat compromised Norris’s preparation for qualifying in Japan, the massive gap of nearly three tenths to his teammate was nevertheless questionable. Sunday welcomed the team’s first podium of the season with Piastri, but the 26-year-old only had a P5 finish to show for his efforts after stewing in the traffic and making a late overtake on Hamilton.
Apart from his shock crash during the reconnaissance lap at Albert Park, Piastri has undoubtedly had the upper hand over Norris in all three Grand Prix qualifying sessions and the race in Japan. The Australian’s second-place finish at Suzuka demonstrated that the MCL40’s potential has yet to be unlocked by the 11-time race winner, who is still grappling with the new power unit regulations.
Given his stature as the reigning champion and the high expectations that come with it, it’s therefore not surprising that Norris has been deemed one of the most disappointing drivers so far in the 2026 F1 season.
Ocon unable to match his younger teammate’s pace once more
Not many had expected Bearman—a rookie—to comfortably outperform Esteban Ocon over the course of a season in 2025. Unfortunately, there’s no indication yet that the 2026 campaign will be any different.
After his younger teammate outqualified him, Ocon started Sunday’s race in Australia from thirteenth on the grid. Despite a promising start, he suffered from oversteer and high tyre degradation, made contact with Gasly, and finished just outside the points.
Ocon didn’t fare any better in the Shanghai Sprint, as Bearman was the one to score a point once again. Thereafter, the Grand Prix qualifying saw him set a time that was over three tenths slower than his teammate’s, leading to a Q2 exit. But the worst was yet to come; the Frenchman collided with Colapinto, received a 10-second penalty, and finished the race a lap down in P14. In contrast, the 20-year-old was all smiles after claiming the ‘best of the rest’ accolade with a top-five finish in China.
Ocon was finally the lead Haas driver in qualifying as F1 headed to Japan for the third round of the season. On Sunday, he produced a decent first stint. However, the Safety Car triggered by Bearman’s unfortunate crash compromised his momentum, and he crossed the line in tenth place.
Scoring his first point of the 2026 campaign at Suzuka no doubt provided Ocon some much-needed respite. Nonetheless, this accomplishment pales in comparison to that of his less-experienced teammate, who racked up 15 crucial points in the first two rounds.
If he doesn’t pull his socks up soon and start delivering solid results on a regular basis, Ocon’s F1 career might take a disappointing turn, with him being one of the drivers on the chopping block at the end of 2026.
Despite the unreliability, Albon has yet to impress so far in F1 2026
Although Carlos Sainz captured the headlines in 2025 with two podium finishes, the solid results Alex Albon quietly brought home in the first half of the season were crucial to Williams comfortably securing fifth in the constructors’ championship.
This year, the Grove-based outfit has already taken three steps back and turned up with a car that’s severely overweight. Sainz isn’t performing miracles either, boasting only a P9 finish thus far. Still, it’s disappointing to find Albon languishing in eighteenth place in the F1 drivers’ standings after the first three rounds of the 2026 season.
Sainz didn’t take part in qualifying for the Australian GP due to an ERS package issue. Albon hit the track but was only quick enough for P15. In the race, the FW48 lacked pace, and he took the chequered flag a lap down in twelfth place.
Albon found himself outpaced by his teammate in both the Sprint qualifying and the 19-lap race in China. This trend continued in Grand Prix qualifying, as a substantial gap of 0.455 seconds separated the two. On Sunday, a hydraulics issue led to the 30-year-old encountering a DNS. In the meantime, Sainz scored the team’s first points of the season.
Albon registered a Q1 exit once again at Suzuka, while Sainz managed to clinch a spot in Q2 on Saturday. As the Thai-British driver struggled for pace and the likelihood of scoring points became slim the next day, Williams turned his race into a testing session. Consequently, he came home in last place.
Given the abundance of issues Williams are facing, neither driver has had the opportunity to produce a standout drive so far. Nevertheless, Albon appears to be struggling more than his teammate, and his start to the campaign, especially in comparison to last year, has been discouraging.
