Which drivers are winning Formula 1's instagram race?
Lewis Hamilton leads the Formula 1 Instagram rankings with 42.27 million Instagram followers. Charles Leclerc is second, with 22.56 million Instagram followers, and Max Verstappen is third, with 17.95 million.
Ticket comparison site Ticket-Compare.com examined Social Blade data on Instagram follower counts for all F1 drivers and teams participating in the Bahrain tests to determine which ones top the Instagram popularity charts.
Lewis Hamilton commands Formula 1's largest Instagram following, with 42.27 million Instagram followers, Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc is second with 22.56 million, and Red Bull’s four-time world champion MaxVerstappen trails in third with 17.95 million.
Ferrari tops the constructor rankings with 20.06 million followers on Instagram, and the Scuderia's driver pairing is comfortably the most Instagrammable pairing on the grid. Hamilton and Leclerc have a combined Instagram audience of nearly 65 million followers, over 45 million more than the next driver pairing.
McLaren ranks second among constructors with 16.56 million followers, and has the third-most popular driver pairing on the grid, with world champion Lando Norris (fifth overall with 11.66 million followers) and Oscar Piastri (ninth with 6.14 million followers) combining for over 17.7 million followers.
Despite their recent on-track performance and the third-most Instagrammable driver on the grid, Red Bull Racing ranks fourth among team accounts, with 15.37 million followers, narrowly behind Mercedes’ 15.47 million. Max Verstappen’s new teammate, Isack Hadjar, enters his second F1 season with 1.76 million followers and ranks 19th overall.
The least followed established driver is Lance Stroll, with 1.74 million followers and ranking 20th. This is despite racing for Aston Martin, the fifth-most popular team (5.37 million followers). On the other side of the Aston Martin garage, Fernando Alonso ranks eighth among drivers, with 7.95 million Instagram followers.
Williams has the sixth-most-followed team account, with 5.13 million followers, and the fourth-most Instagrammable driver pairing. Carlos Sainz is fourth overall with 12.44 million followers, and Alexander Albon is 14th with 4.19 million.
Cadillac’sSergio ‘Checo’ Perez ranks sixth, with 8.33 million Instagram followers, and teammate Valtteri Bottas ranks 11th, with 5.54 million. The new works outfit ranks 11th among teams, with 3.45 million followers.
Mercedes’ George Russell and Kimi Antonelli rank seventh and 13th, with 8.21 million and 4.61 million Instagram followers, respectively.
Pierre Gasly is tenth, with 6.06 million followers on Instagram, and Alpine teammate Franco Colapinto is 12th, with 5.31 million followers. Alpine is the seventh-most-followed team, with a following of 4.74 million.
“This season is one of the most exciting in years, and fans were glued to the coverage at Bahrain as we got to see the new 2026 cars in action for the first time," commented Liran Froind , CEO of Ticket-Compare.com. "New regulations always provide the chance for a shakeup in the standings, and it will be fascinating to see which teams have got things right.
Froind continued: “Social media is one of the main ways modern fans engage with the sport, so teams will be eager to grow their followings and build hype ahead of the new season.”