Hamilton and Verstappen ranked higher than Messi and Ronaldo by EA Sports

In a tradition as old as time with FIFA, players have long tried to work out their rankings, and more often than not been left disappointed, and that's now the case in Formula 1.

With EA set to release the latest edition of the racing game on July 1, drivers were given blank versions of their 'My Team' cards, much like in FIFA's Ultimate Team.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez signed up for the challenge, as did their counterparts at McLaren, Alfa Romeo, Alpha Tauri, Alpine and Haas.

But more often than not, they were left unhappy, with the real winners of the reveal being Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen who led the way with an overall ranking of 94.

The Dutch world champion is a keen FIFA player, and was quick to compare his number to footballing greats Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who have been dominating the game for over.

"Who's the best player in FIFA? Is Messi still the highest?" teammate Perez asked.

"He was 93 the standard card," Verstappen replied. "And Cristiano?" Perez continued. "He was 91, I think," said his teammate.

The biggest winners from the ratings were Ferrari's title contender Charles Leclerc, as well as British duo Lando Norris and George Russell who both made it in the 90s.

McLaren's Norris currently leads teammate Daniel Ricciardo by 35 points in the drivers' standings, and the two got a little competitive guessing each other's numbers.

"Are you joking?!" Norris said when his teammate guessed a racecraft level of 71, which later turned out to be 94.

Codemasters revealed they have changed their algorithm so 'the stats are more representative of a driver's current form and less reliant on their legacy' with Norris playing on that factor.

Giving Ricciardo a brutal dig, he gave the Australian two pace scores, one of 94 in 2018, and one of 34 in 2022.

"So if you meet in the middle that will be 64," Ricciardo said with a laugh.

But when the final rankings were shown, Riccardo changed Norris' from a 90 to 80, before knocking over his card jokingly.

The assessment was even harder for drivers with young teammates, as Kevin Magnussen had to judge Mick Schumacher in his second year, and the same went for Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda's rankings.

"This is the most awkward thing I've ever done I think," said Magnussen. "Mick's only done a season-and-a-half in F1, he's grown up in a racing family so in a few years he'll be at 100 [in experience] but he's going to be an 85 now.

"I think the fact that Kevin obviously had some more different championships," Schumacher judged.

"And I'm also old," his Danish teammate replied.

Fernando Alonso, who has completed the second highest number of races in F1 history, managed a 98 for experience, leaving he and teammate Esteban Ocon baffled.

"How many years of F1 do I have to do to get to 100? I don't understand these," Alonso said.

He was then revealed to have a lower racecraft score than his teammate, which left Ocon in shock.

"They put you less than me!" the Frenchman said.

"It's a game!" Alonso replied.

"He's done some pretty awesome moves over his career so I'd put him more than me," figured Ocon.

Fortunately for Alonso and the like, EA have confirmed these are just starting stats after the Monaco Grand Prix, with drivers able to improve their ratings as the season progresses.