Top 5 Smoothest F1 Drivers in 2024

5: Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez is known for being able to save his tyres over a race stint. This is complemented by his relatively smoother driving style. He prefers a more understeery car setup with a strong, grippy rear end. On the entry of the corner, he usually brakes earlier and turns in earlier to have a settled car in the mid-corner. In the mid-corner he keeps his steering consistent and gradual while modulating the pedals to stay on the grip limit. On the exit, he eases onto the throttle with help from the strong rear end grip. He has a good feel for the grip limit of the front tyres when gradually loading the tyres on corner entry. This driving style benefits the tyres and is generally faster than more aggressive drivers as it is easier to maintain the front grip limit by being smooth. Overall, by being smooth, Perez loads up the front tyres to the grip limit without scrubbing tyres/speed.

4: Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz is known as being a smooth operator at the wheel. He prefers a more understeery car setup with a strong, grippy rear end. On the entry of the corner, he can brake later but still turn in early due to the stability of the rear end. The stable car setup allows him to be more aggressive with carrying speed into the corners, but smooth in the steering movements. This resonates with the mid-corner stage, where he takes a smooth arc through the corner. This allows him to carry lots of speed mid-corner while staying on the grip limit via pedal modulation. On the exit, the stable rear end allows him to accelerate more aggressively while keeping the rear tyres on the grip limit. Sainz has a good feel for the limit on the entry and mid-corner, usually being smooth on the wheel but aggressive on the pedals. Overall, this style allows him to minimise the scrubbing of tyres while being on the limit of grip.

3: Alex Albon

Alex Albon has said himself that he is a smooth driver. However, he prefers a more oversteery car with a strong front end. This would allow him to rotate the car easily without having to induce a lot of rotation, like a driver with an understeery car. On entry, he would have to brake earlier than others, having less rear end stability under braking. In the mid-corner, he can rotate the car more than others due to the strong grippy front end. If taking a V-shaped line, he could rotate the car earlier in the mid-corner but at a slower speed. This would allow the car to have done all the rotation earlier than others, meaning he can accelerate earlier with a straighter exit. While doing this, he is actually benefiting the tyres as well to an extent. By braking earlier, being smooth and demanding less mid-corner rotation with a V-shaped line, the tyres are put under less continuous stress. Drivers like Sainz and Alonso taking U-shaped lines sometimes struggle with the fronts degrading from sustained stress mid-corner. Overall, Albon’s smooth but sharp style allows him to be kind on the tyres while being fast.

2: Lando Norris

Lando Norris is known as being a precise driver with an innate feel for the limit. He used to prefer an oversteery car in F3 and this has resonated somewhat to F1. While preferring a strong front end, he is still able to be smooth and precise with the steering movements. On the entry, he has a good feel of the brakes into the corner, allowing him to brake later and carry more speed throughout the corner. In the mid-corner, his steering is smooth and gradual as turns into the corner but his pedal work is more aggressive to stay on the grip limit. On the exit, his steering remains smooth as he eases onto the throttle. Norris is also adaptable, taking whatever lines the car is fastest with and treating it how it's meant to be treated. An example of this is when Norris had to adapt to the McLaren when it required a more V-shaped line. Overall, this style allowed Norris to be smooth while fast, loading up the fronts and making the rears work to induce the rotation.

1: Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen is another precise driver with an insane feel for the limit. He is incredibly adaptable, but still prefers an oversteery setup with a strong front end. He can take a mixture of V-shaped and U-shaped lines depending on the corner. V-shaped lines for when the exit speed is more important leading onto a straight. U-shaped lines for when the mid-corner speed is more important than the exit such as the Suzuka Esses. On the entry, he brakes relatively earlier than others, and turns in earlier. This allows him to have a more settled car in the mid-corner. His innate feel is seen where he makes almost no corrections to the steering, keeping the car on the limit through pedal modulation. In the mid-corner, he keeps the steering smooth and consistent staying on the grip limit by trailbraking and modulating the throttle on exit. Overall, when Verstappen’s innate feel for the limit, ability to rotate the car with the pedals and his versatile driving style is put together he is undoubtedly a fast driver.

Honourable mentions are Lewis Hamilton, Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg