Show Notes
Mark Hughes has handed out just one A+ so far this season - and even Kimi Antonelli's own team-mate George Russell can't quite explain how he's making a rookie-in-his-second-year look this good.
Using the old-school GCSE method, Mark grades every driver on the 2026 grid at the summer break, from the Ferrari pairing of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc through to the biggest team-mate swings on the grid, where Oliver Bearman's A- dwarfs Esteban Ocon's C+ at Haas, and Carlos Sainz's A- leaves Alex Albon down on a C+ at Williams.
Mark and Bryn Lucas talk through how the marking system works, why it can never be truly scientific, and what separates a driver doing everything right in a bad car from one who's simply not delivering.
They also debate whether Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso deserves his grade given how far off the pace his car is, and name the team that's punched furthest above its weight - and the one that's fallen shortest - over the first half of the season. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Motor Sport F1 Show with Mark Hughes
Kimi Antonelli has his first chance to claim this year’s Formula 1 title in Austin this weekend and become the youngest-ever world champion in history - by some margin.
Why couldn't Lewis Hamilton get a clear answer to an "easy question" that could have prevented him from pursuing a disastrous strategy at the Singapore Grand Prix?
Max Verstappen wins in Malaysia, Red Bull's rough-track advantage, and a restart that took two hours: Mark Hughes and Bryn Lucas look back on the Sepang Grand Prix and ahead to Singapore.
Mark Hughes and Bryn Lucas discuss the latest speculation and Mark's latest column on what would happen if Horner took charge at Maranello, what level of control he would demand, and whether Ferrari's senior management is brave enough to give it to him.
Charles Leclerc is dynamite in Baku: he started in pole position for four years in a row and is regularly the fastest on track in the race. But he's never won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.