Ranked: F1 2025 drivers by how they’d perform in a NASCAR race

The NASCAR Cup Series is visiting Watkins Glen in upstate New York this weekend — and to celebrate the series’ visit to a former Formula 1 venue, we’re ranking the F1 2025 field based on how well we think they’d perform in a Cup race.

Now, these Formula 1 drivers likely wouldn’t be winning championships, but at a road course like The Glen, they might stand a chance. Here’s our ranking, from least to most likely to perform.

F1 2025 drivers ranked by how they’d perform in a NASCAR race

21. George Russell

Try as I might, I simply cannot imagine George Russell donning a bootcut firesuit and climbing in the window of a NASCAR Cup car.

Russell is an analytical and precise driver, one who has a strong grasp of mastering low-speed corners but who often struggles with an oversteering car… which is about the exact opposite of Cup racing.

I also fear the rule-abiding Russell would also find the outlaw bent of the Cup series to be well out of his wheelhouse.

20. Kimi Antonelli

Much like George Russell, it’s quite tough to imagine Kimi Antonelli competing in anything but Formula 1, though that’s largely thanks to his relative inexperience… and his youth.

NASCAR Cup cars are notoriously unwieldy and difficult to control, with steering and braking requiring a significant amount of strength. Further, he’s still learning the art of tyre management, which is absolutely critical in a Cup race, with multiple green-flag pit stops.

19. Lando Norris

Lando Norris has a few of the racecraft skills that would make him shine in NASCAR, including confidence at high speeds, tyre management, and consistency… but his mindset does not lend itself to Cup racing.

That’s no shade to Norris! He’s just the kind of driver who can be easily rattled in tense moments or during wheel-to-wheel combat, which is exactly what the Cup Series relies on.

18. Charles Leclerc

There’s one specific part of NASCAR Cup Series racing that Charles Leclerc would excel at: Sassy radio messages.

NASCAR drivers aren’t afraid to let loose on the radio. Whether they’re cussing out the team or raging at the idiocy of a competitor, you can count on a stock car driver to let you know how he feels.

When it comes to driving, Leclerc is another driver whose skillset seems best suited to open-wheel racing, relying on sharp, precise steering inputs and responsive cars — things that Cup cars simply do not have.

But on the radio? Leclerc could give Kyle Busch a run for his money.

17. Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton is the only driver on this list to turn laps behind the wheel of a NASCAR Cup car as part of Speed Channel’s Seat Swap. Back in 2011, Hamilton and Cup driver Tony Stewart traded race cars for a handful of laps around Watkins Glen International for what Stewart called the experience of a lifetime.

But would Hamilton be able to handle himself in a Cup race? I don’t know that he’d be of race-winning caliber, but I do think he could hold his own on a circuit like Watkins Glen. On an oval? Maybe not so much.

Hamilton is a driver who needs his car balanced to his liking, and who often struggles in the middle of traffic. It’s easy to oversteer in a Cup car, and keeping your cool through major pit strategy swings is key to doing well. I have a feeling Hamilton would struggle on those fronts.

16. Oliver Bearman

Oliver Bearman is an aggressive driver, one who can push hard and who can remain quick under pressure.

However, Bearman is still a little bit of a loose cannon — hard to predict and a bit inconsistent, even considering his consecutive run of 11th-place finishes. And he’s still honing his craft in traffic, which is a critical part of the NASCAR scene.

15. Alex Albon

With a DTM victory under his belt during his Formula 1 hiatus, Alex Albon has shown that he’s capable of performing in a non-open-wheel car. He has intelligent race craft and works well with his team — a critical component of stock car racing.

Bring him to NASCAR, though, and I have a feeling he would struggle in both adapting to the car and in finding the inner aggression required to make major moves on the competition.

14. Pierre Gasly

Pierre Gasly has a strong blend of aggression and smoothness that would make him a decent contender for a strong NASCAR performance, particularly on the tyre management front.

But he’d need to tame that aggression somewhat to work within oval packs, and to figure out how to hold onto his car in dirty air. That would be a major hurdle to overcome for a fairly solo driver.

13. Yuki Tsunoda

While Yuki Tsunoda may be on the smaller side — thus meaning his body-weight-to-strength ratio is much different compared to the competition — I have confidence that he could adapt well to a Cup Series car.

Why? Well, in a lot of ways, Tsunoda is a raw driver. He’s aggressive, intense, reactive, and often impulsive, and in the sensitive Formula 1 machines, that can come back to bite him.

But his aggression would be rewarded in NASCAR, where a little bumping and grinding is no big deal, and where split-second decisions can make the difference between finishing a race and ending up in a multi-car wreck.

I think Tsunoda would likely still struggle keeping his cool in a Cup race, particularly when it comes time to manage his tyres. But Tsunoda would be an absolute delight to watch.

12. Jack Doohan

If I close my eyes, I can already picture Jack Doohan in a Sam Hunt Racing firesuit. Maybe not a Cup team, but certainly a union of an underrated driver with an underrated team.

Despite what his Formula 1 performance has suggested, Doohan is a strong driver who has performed very well in the lower rungs of the ladder leading to Formula 1. Stick him in a stock car, and his adaptability could bring him some strong finishes.

11. Lance Stroll

I don’t know that Lance Stroll would be successful in the NASCAR Cup Series, but much like in Formula 1, I can see him displaying flashes of brilliance — a pole position for a crown jewel race, a shock win in the middle of a chaotic race.

In Formula 1, Stroll is fairly aggressive, reactive, and can be brave in high-speed events; those are all solid traits to have in a stock car, when you’re racing inches away from the competition and need to always be on high alert in the event of a major wreck.

10. Esteban Ocon

With much of his F1 career spent in lower to midfield teams, Esteban Ocon hasn’t often gotten enough credit for his performance. He’s a smooth driver who also isn’t afraid to get his elbows out, and he’s often able to manage his tyres well because of it.

But it’s his F1 weaknesses — his aggression and his over-defensiveness — that I think could serve him well in NASCAR. He’d need to improve his situational awareness, as oval racing requires drivers to be aware of everything going on around them. But I don’t doubt his ability to drive through the field.

9. Liam Lawson

Liam Lawson is the kind of aggressive driver who can turn an oversteering car into a strong finishing result, and his adaptability would put him in good stead learning how to compete in a Cup car.

But there are a few reasons I’ve ranked him below his teammate Isack Hadjar, which is the fact that he often needs both an ideally balanced car and a cool head to make in-race progress.

He’d be an entertaining driver to watch in NASCAR, and a winner on the radio.

8. Isack Hadjar

Isack Hadjar is still quite rough around the edges, but he’s been a standout performer of the F1 2025 season, with many labelling him as the rookie of the year despite Kimi Antonelli’s greater points total.

Like his Racing Bulls teammate Liam Lawson, a large part of that comes from his aggressive and committed mindset; give Hadjar an inch, and he’ll take a mile. Further, he’s the kind of driver who doesn’t mind a bit of oversteer.

Put Hadjar in a Cup car, and it’s easy to picture him nosing his way ahead of some more experienced competition, using the bumper to make his point. The stock car format would play well into his strengths.

7. Oscar Piastri

When he first joined McLaren in Formula 1 back in 2023, Oscar Piastri was quiet and somewhat unspectacular, but in many ways, it seemed as if he was listening and learning, ready to deploy his skills the moment he had a strong car. Now, he’s contending for an F1 championship.

He’s a smooth and measured driver, mentally composed, quick in qualifying, and consistently improving on the tyre management front. Put Piastri in a Cup car, and I have a feeling it would take the first third of the season for him to find his footing. After that, he’d be a force to be reckoned with.

6. Franco Colapinto

With a few outings in the endurance racing and GT3 world under his belt, we often forget that Franco Colapinto’s racing experience extends far beyond the open-wheel realm.

The things that work against Colapinto in F1 — his aggression, his fearlessness, and his rawness — would work in his favor were he to turn to Cup racing.

Now, I don’t know that he’d be a race winner, since stock car racing does still ultimately require its drivers to keep their cars on the race track. However, he would find stock cars far more forgiving. Plus, his endurance racing performance proves there’s more to Colapinto than we’ve seen so far in F1.

5. Gabriel Bortoleto

Gabriel Bortoleto has proven that he’s capable of getting behind the wheel of a new car and, within a few races, can perform well in them. I don’t think a Cup car would be any different!

I know it’s a bold statement — but remember that Bortoleto has also taken victory in the Stock Car Brasil series, which proves that he’s had a great experience behind the wheel of a stock car before. Give him a few races, and he’d be a great Cup contender.

4. Carlos Sainz

The Sainz family has mastered a diverse set of racing skills, with the elder Carlos Sainz taking on the off-road discipline while his son has thrived in open-wheel racing. But both men are adaptable, and that’s where I think Sainz Jr. would thrive in NASCAR.

Sainz is great at managing his tyres, and he has a strategic mindset that would translate well to lengthy green-flag stints in the Cup Series.

3. Nico Hulkenberg

Nico Hulkenberg is one of those rare racers who managed to snag a victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans before scoring a Formula 1 podium, even though he’s been competing in F1 for over a decade.

That also makes him one of the rare drivers in this modern era to actually display his talent in a different discipline. Put him in a NASCAR Cup car, and it might take him a few laps to get up to speed; however, once he were to get the hang of it, Hulkenberg’s decisive but clean and smooth driving style would come in handy behind the wheel of a stock car.

2. Max Verstappen

Four-time World Champion Max Verstappen has been a truly impressive talent in the Formula 1 world, and there’s no doubt in my mind he’d be impressive in NASCAR, too. The only reason he’s placing lower than Fernando Alonso is largely thanks to Verstappen’s relative lack of experience in other competitive disciplines.

That being said, Verstappen is rumoured to have been quite impressive behind the wheel of various GT3 cars during some recent test sessions. NASCAR’s current generation of Cup machinery is designed to better reflect international GT3 regulations than ever before in American stock car racing.

Put Verstappen behind the wheel of a Cup car, and I have a feeling we’d see him in the winner’s circle before long.

1. Fernando Alonso

Of all the drivers on the F1 2025 field, Fernando Alonso is one of the few to have recently displayed his talent behind the wheel of a non-Formula 1 machine — and that’s a major reason I feel he’d ultimately end up being the best-performing driver should he make the move to NASCAR.

More than that, his aggressive-but-clean driving style is nearly ideal for NASCAR, where Cup drivers often use a bumper to nudge the competition out of the way when need be. On a road course, Alonso would be unstoppable — but I have confidence he’d make quite the impression on ovals, too.

Read next: How Watkins Glen truly defined F1’s place in the United States