Here are 13 alternative motorsport series for 2026's Formula One drivers

F1’s current championship leader is only just out of nappies. Luckily, Little Tikes reckons its iconic Cozy Coupe suits kids from 18 months right the way up to five years old. Remove the little floor panel and run like the wind, Kimi! You could even invite your school friends over for a race.

Wouldn’t it be great if a band of Brits followed in Nigel Mansell’s footprints in the Super Touring era and entered the British Touring Car Championship for a couple of rounds? Russell in an A-Class, Lindblad in a Ford Focus to keep the Racing Bulls engine supplier happy, and Norris in a, erm… Artura?

We all secretly want Charles to win in a Ferrari, don’t we? Perhaps his best chance of securing a title for the Tifosi would be in the Masters Racing Legends series for F1 cars built between 1966 and 1985.

Back when it was electrically powered and known as Extreme E, Lewis Hamilton actually had his own off-road racing setup. Team X44 even won the championship in 2022, while Sébastien Loeb and Cristina Gutiérrez were crowned as drivers’ champions. Surely Lewis could have a go himself now that the cars run on hydrogen?

Both of the Australian drivers on the F1 grid (have you seen that mullet? Valtteri is definitely an honorary Aussie) have driven V8 Supercars for different promo events in recent years, and Bottas even promised afterwards that he’d be back for at least one proper race. Fancy the Bathurst 1000, Valtteri?

Back in 2025, Bearman spent a family holiday in Sweden trying desperately to break the lap record at a local karting track. He managed it, only for local youngster Elton Zevenwacht to take his record straight back after Ollie had left. Wildly tuned Time Attack cars might have a little more power and aero than a holiday rental kart, but we can see the Haas driver getting a little bit addicted…

What better way for the French pair to put their long-standing beef well and truly behind them? All they’d need is a couple of old Clios and a concrete oval. Would probably actually make for an excellent watch for the rest of us, too.

Lawson has spoken a fair bit about growing up by the beach in New Zealand, and we’re sure that his Red Bull overlords would love to see him have a crack at offshore powerboat racing. Pretty rad, right?

Wouldn’t it be great to see the South American contingent have a go at something that’s about as far from the world of F1 as motorsport gets? We’re thinking full-fat trophy trucks at the brilliant Baja 1000.  

Albon came very close to racing in Formula E back in 2018. In fact, he had signed a deal to drive for Nissan during the 2018/19 season, but just a couple of weeks before the first race in Saudi Arabia he was offered a seat in F1 with Toro Rosso and duly ditched the all-electric series. We wonder if the 800bhp+ Gen 4 cars could tempt him back?

All seems to be a bit quiet on the eSkootr racing front right now, but back when the series first launched in 2022, Nico Hülkenberg actually lent his race number to team 27X. We can certainly see Nico being pretty rapid on a scooter, particularly one that was developed by Williams Advanced Engineering with a top speed of over 60mph. 

Fernando’s already had a crack at many different motorsport disciplines outside of F1, so we reckon he should emulate Sir Stirling Moss with a really left-field attempt at lawn mower racing. Imagine how good his defensive driving would be with a giant grass catcher on the back.

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