Hello,
I’ve wanted for a long time to develop some way of ranking drivers across Formula 1 history, and I recently came across the OpenSkill algorithm, so I wanted to try using it.
The short version is that OpenSkill treats each race as a contest between everyone who took part. Each result adjusts its estimate of every driver’s ability, along with how certain it is about that estimate. Beating a strong field helps; finishing behind it hurts. I then normalise the scores within each season so that 50 represents the average established driver on that year’s grid, which I’ve called that number the era score.
You can read the full rules, search all the drivers and try it for yourself on the new driver rankings page.
Following a Career
What I thought would be particularly interesting was the ability to see when drivers peaked during their careers, rather than just producing one all-time list. The tool therefore plots a season-by-season career curve and lets you compare any two drivers.
Comparing Hamilton with Fangio by calendar year is not very helpful, of course, so there is also a Years in F1 view. That lines up their debut seasons and makes it much easier to compare how quickly their ratings rose and how long they remained at their best.
A Few Early Findings
Looking across the 456 drivers included in this first version:
- The average peak came roughly four and a half seasons into a career.
- The average career lasted 6.4 seasons, measured from the first season to the last.
- Just over half of the drivers peaked within their first three seasons.
Those figures only cover drivers with at least five Grand Prix starts, and the current 2026 season is treated as provisional.
Still a First Pass
I haven’t done anything yet to account for relative car performance in each season, or even changes in performance within a season.
For example, if I just look at Verstappens rating it would look like he's really dropped off this year. Which doesn't seem very fair considering only recently has his car been able to win races.
I’m very aware that this will be a major factor in some years — Mercedes’ advantage at the start of the hybrid era is an obvious example — and I’m sure there will be plenty more to investigate.
I was also surprised that Vettel comes out as the driver with the 3rd highest peak! Perhaps that reflects just how competitive the field was during those Championships he won. But I like you can compare how his rating changes relative to his teammates - give that a go.