Guenther Steiner Ranks the 2026 F1 Teams!

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**Matt Elisofon** (1:24)
What's up, Vankahs?

**Brian Muller** (1:26)
Greetings, Vankahs. You all loved the driver tier list. So we thought we would do another one, not just the drivers list and yeah, these guys, the individual, sure. But let's talk about the teams because these teams need to be scrutinized. These teams need to be graded. Formula 1 is a team sport as much as it's set up to not be that way. So we want to go through all the teams this year and give them their own tier rankings. You know how this works. S is the highest. A, B, C, D.
If you want to throw an F in there, it might actually be an appropriate one to do that with. So we reserve that right for you to throw an F tier if it deserves it. But, you know, it's a new reg set, Guenther.
How do you feel like the teams overall have responded to these new regulations?

**Guenther Steiner** (2:31)
What I was surprised, the gap between the big ones and the small ones, you know, very surprising.
So I don't know if the big ones overperformed, how they responded better than expected, or did the smaller ones underperform? Difficult to say, you know. But I just find the gap has become very big, which is, and it's now again a three-tier society. It's the top teams. It's a small midfield with two teams. And then there is the back markers, which are quite a solid bunch there, you know? So it has changed completely from last year.

**Brian Muller** (3:12)
Yeah, last year was like, I think, the closest, you know, from first to last in terms of just raw pace. It was one of the closest seasons we've ever had in Formula 1 And now it's jumped to one of the largest gaps that we've ever had. We're only halfway through the year. We've got a lot more season left to come, but we want to go through the year so far. So let's do that. But before we get into these rankings, this is of course Vankah Hours, part of the Vox Media Network. Let's cue the music.
And we're back. Okay, Guenther, let's start with the last place team with zero points, the American Formula 1 team, Cadillac.

**Matt Elisofon** (4:13)
The only American team on the grid.

**Guenther Steiner** (4:17)
No, there's a second one that is Haas.

**SPEAKER_7** (4:18)
I know. That's right, that's right.

**Guenther Steiner** (4:20)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's a D. I mean, I think they put a lot of effort in. They have got a lot of resources, and I think they came out, even in their own, if they would look in the mirror and say, did we expect to be this bad? They would have said, no, you know, because, I mean, they came out bad, but didn't make up anything. It's actually, I would say, even going the wrong direction in the moment. And they've got two good drivers, you know, as good as they can, as good as you can have for a new team, you know. Obviously, they don't have Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli, but they've got two very experienced drivers.

**Brian Muller** (4:58)
I mean, Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli couldn't have done much in these cars either. I mean, what you have are two drivers on that team who have beaten a Max Verstappen and who beat a Lewis Hamilton while in the same cars as them. So you have, you can't blame it on the drivers.