u/Federal_Size6250

Already seeing loads of comments about how “they’ve missed him” and “he needs to be back in F1” 🙄

The most obvious answer here is yes, but I don’t think it’s actually that straightforward.

It‘s important to note that Kimi signed his Ferrari contract in 2005, meaning in this hypothetical scenario Schumacher would’ve been up against Raikkonen and not Massa- a much bigger test than any of his previous teammates. I also don’t think he was the absolute best driver in F1 by the time he retired- Alonso showed that in 2006 and had a prime Schumacher been competing he may have taken the title that season. My knowledge of that era isn’t the best but I don’t think it’d be far fetched to say Kimi was slightly better at this point also.

That being said, he did have a better record against Massa in 2006 than Kimi did in 2007. It was only after Schumacher announced his retirement that Massa started to take poles and wins, whilst Kimi didn’t hit the ground running in 2007 (debut win in Aus aside) straight away and it was 9 podiums including 5 wins in the last 10 races that won him the title.

Having rewatched 2007 fairly recently, I honestly believe the two McLaren drivers were better than Kimi that season. There were more races where Ferrari were the outright fastest car that year than there were for McLaren, although it is important to note that Kimi lost more points from mechanical issues than either McLaren driver.

As for 2008- Lewis, Massa and Raikkonen all had their fair share of bozo moments, and it’s very easy to say that a Schumacher/Alonso would’ve walked to that title- but not as easy to actually prove.

I’m curious what people have to think on this one because I genuinely don’t know, and I guess we’ll never actually know

It’s still early on in 2026 but I wanted to discuss which drivers have performed better/worse than expected at the start of the season. Here’s some of my choices:

Exceeded expectation:

Kimi Antonelli: Was only the 3rd best rookie of 2025 for me and was well beaten by Russell, but has been brilliant so far and scarily quick on a few weekends

Lewis Hamilton: Expected to have performed better than in 2025, but going from not even being a top 10 best driver last year to where he is now is a surprise

Pierre Gasly: Was slightly overrated during the GE era for me, as he mostly seemed to perform in purple patches. However so far in 2026 he’s back to his 2021 self and is the only driver other than Lewis to score points at every round so far

Liam Lawson: His main issues last year were his qualifying and his consistency, both of which he has improved this year

Sergio Perez: Comfortably beating Bottas and doing as much as he can with the Cadillac

Arvid Lindblad: Got up to speed with F1 very quickly, had some bad luck which has limited his points thus far but hopeful for more this season.

Franco Colapinto: A few standout performances and capable of being a consistent point scorer, much more likely to stick around in 2027 and beyond now.

Disappointing:

George Russell: Has had horrendous luck and shouldn’t be as far back as he is in the championship, but his lack of pace relative to his 19 year old teammate at times is worrying

Charles Leclerc: Hit an awful run of form and overshadowed by his teammate who he beat comfortably last season

Oscar Piastri: Has looked fairly average, struggling with race pace relative to Lando

Gabriel Bortoleto: Hasn’t taken the step up that was expected and being beaten consistently by his 38 year old teammate, who in his prime was slightly above average

Valtteri Bottas: Being beaten by Perez, especially disappointing in qualifying as one lap pace has always been his strength

Alex Albon: Williams’ struggles has masked this a lot, but there is quite a considerable gap between him and Sainz (To be honest, I never really rated Albon that highly but I put it here as I haven’t seen it talked about much)

I’ve always rated these two similarly throughout their careers, but this season so far has made me believe more than ever that Norris is the better driver.

Both are exceptional qualifiers but it seems that’s as good as it gets for Russell, whereas Lando has some of the best tyre management skills on the grid and is also a better wet weather driver than George imo. Russell also seems to be lacking race pace in general.

Last year when Lando was fighting for the championship whilst George was driving under little pressure, the public perception probably went slightly in favour of George and I too was guilty of holding George in higher regard. In the early part of last year Lando was losing to Piastri mainly due to his own mistakes and/or lack of racecraft, but I never once believed that Piastri was the quicker driver, whilst this year even when George is able to outqualify Kimi he isn’t convincingly quicker in the races. Lando also seems to be driving even better this season, perhaps partially because he’s already won a championship and is no longer under pressure.