We Rank Formula 1’s Five Most Successful Under-25 Drivers, Moneyball-Style

Granted, having to choose between Formula 1’s brightest young talents is extremely difficult. This is arguably the best era for young drivers, and what better time to rank them than now? Especially since next year, everything will be in flux as teams scramble to adapt to new regulations, and drivers to new handling characteristics for their cars.

Here are the rules: we take the five drivers that have shown the most promise since entering Formula 1 (some are already well established), add up their season totals in the Driver Standings, figure out the average and rank them according to that. Also, keep in mind that we’re ranking them based on success, which is obviously influenced by the type of equipment they’re on – whether it’s a championship-winning car, a middle-of-the-pack car, or even a perennial backmarker.

#1 Max Verstappen – Red Bull Racing

Verstappen has been by far the most successful young driver in Formula 1 in the V6 hybrid era. He’s been fast, efficient and delightfully reckless ever since he made his debut with Scuderia Toro Rosso, becoming F1’s youngest ever driver to take part in a Grand Prix weekend. He scored 49 points with his Renault-powered STR back in 2015, before making the switch to Red Bull and never looking back.

Since his rookie season, he’s scored 204, 168, 249, 278, 214 and 332.5 points respectively in the years that followed. With three races left to go this year, he’ll obviously add to those 332.5 points, unless something goes horribly wrong in each of those three Grand Prix.

In the end, his scoring average is 213.5 points, which by the way is better than Michael Schumacher’s average (185.5 points) for his first seven seasons in Formula 1.

#2 Charles Leclerc – Scuderia Ferrari

Leclerc’s and Verstappen’s rookie trajectories are very similar. Both clearly overachieved, and even scored a similar number of points during their first year – 49 for Verstappen and 39 for Leclerc. The Monegasque driver shares some of Verstappen’s qualities behind the wheel and has already shown flashes of title contention, just think back to his sophomore year when he racked up 264 points for Ferrari.

He followed that performance with a 98-point total and this year, another 148 points as of 11.19.2021, just ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix. His average is an extremely solid 137 points over four years.

#3 Lando Norris – McLaren

Lando Norris started his Formula 1 racing career at McLaren in 2019, totaling 49 points at the end of the year. In his second season, he finished with 97 points and right now sits fifth in the Driver Standings with 151 points, two points clear of Leclerc. He’s still just 22 years old and is without a doubt one of the most talented drivers on the grid, regardless of age.

His scoring average over three years (almost three), is 99 points, well clear of another British racing driver who actually won an F1 title – Jenson Button, who scored 67, 25 and 80 points during his first three years in F1.

Is Norris championship material? Absolutely. All the metrics point to that. He just needs a more level playing field.

#4 Lance Stroll – Aston Martin Racing

Oh, you didn’t see this one coming, did you? The son of a team owner, a proper Formula 1 talent? Yes indeed. In fact, the numbers tell us he’s the fourth most successful under 25-year-old driver on the grid, although he would have been fifth if Pierre Gasly hadn’t turned 25 back in February (which is why he's not on this list).

Still, the 23-year-old Canadian has been extremely productive during his four years in the big leagues, having amassed an impressive 40 points in his first year with Williams. His scoring average is currently 33.6 points per season, which is alright, but isn’t going to start up a lot of championship contention conversations. It’s unlikely he will ever win a title, but stranger things have been known to happen.

#5 George Russell – Williams

This is one time we really shouldn’t pay that much attention to the math. While the numbers say Russell is just the fifth most successful driver on this list, he definitely passes the eye test when it comes to on-the-fly talent evaluation.

Sure, his scoring average is a lowly 6.3 points per season, but talent-wise, he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Leclerc and Norris, maybe even Verstappen. Also keep in mind that next year he will be racing for Mercedes, which should speed up his development into a genuine title contender.

Now, back to who you’d probably want to choose if you were starting your own F1 team today. Obviously, it would be Verstappen. He’s the most successful and arguably the most talented driver on the grid. As for his teammate, you really can’t go wrong with either Leclerc, Norris or Russell.