Separating the driver from the car
F1 rankings have a confound no other sport suffers: machinery. Verstappen's dominance reads different depending on whether you think the car flattered him; Alonso's podium-less seasons in bad cars are S-tier evidence to purists. Teammate deltas are the cleanest signal we have — it is why Hamilton-Russell and Norris-Piastri intra-team battles move rankings more than race wins. Rookies get graded on a curve: Antonelli's stumbles in a top seat versus Bearman punching up in a Haas are different sports.