Hello, welcome to our review of the 2025 season. We will look back at every team and assess their season, and ask who the real winners and losers were from a season where McLaren won their first drivers’ and constructors’ double since 1998. Unfortunately, our race summaries were not fully complete for this review and we will use them in our race prixviews next season…
This review provides a comprehensive look back at each team’s journey, highlighting the triumphs, challenges, and pivotal moments that defined the year
But it was a season largely dominated by Paypa, struggles for Ferrari, a late comeback which wasn’t enough for Max Verstappen to take five in a row with Lando Norris the first McLaren champion in seventeen years…
Looking back
2025 was the 75th world championship, the final season of these aero regulations introduced in 2022 and power unit regulations since 2014, was always going to be one where the field closed up, but could anyone stop Brawn/Mercedes and Red Bull’s fifteen year strangle hold on the drivers?
McLaren in the opening races, picked up where they left off winning eight of the first ten races, and though last year they were laying the groundwork in a similar way Brawn did in 2009. It’s only happened once, when we had a regulation change in recent times, and that’s a minor one Mercedes in 2016-17.
They won six of the first seven races, a quarter of the season, which history tells us put them as the favourites for the title. Though it wasn’t Lando Norris who won those races, it was Oscar Piastri, who made him favourite at the halfway point, while it was an eight-point lead, but then the pressure of fighting for the championship got to him, whereas Norris had the experience of that in the previous year.
Throughout the season McLaren were clearly the team to beat; they in those closing races were under pressure from Red Bull and Max Verstappen in those closing races. Though I feel it was too late in the season for him to have a serious chance of a fifth title, and maybe that was only the change of leadership which allowed that late challenge by Verstappen, coupled with their better understanding of the car.
One of the things which stood out throughout this season was how tight it was behind McLaren and occasionally Red Bull was how tight it was in qualifying, often we were taking hundredths and thousandths across the field to get through Q1-Q2 or Q2-Q3, and though there was a grip pole was often decided by similar margins.
There was a clear top four McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, but Ferrari were slightly further behind, clearly ahead of the rest of the field; there were no clear backmarkers. It varied, one weekend it was Sauber the next they were in the top ten, the next it was Haas, proving these regulations have worked. I think the question when we get these huge regulation changes can the top teams pull out an advantage in 2026?
Mercedes, meanwhile, was the only other team to win this season but in the fight mainly between Norris-Piastri, the wins by Russell in Montréal and Singapore and a couple of podiums. They had a decent season, but they were never in the mix in terms of the championship.
McLaren
After a strong end to the season in 2024 and their first constructors in twenty-five years, McLaren arrived in Melbourne as the favourites, with eyes were partially on Lando Norris. In Abu Dhabi, he had claimed (2025) “would be our year,” and so it was. It was
clear in Bahrain how strong they were, and Norris was billed as the championship favourite even before we turned a competitive wheel but throughout the majority of the season it wasn’t Norris who emerged as the driver leading, it was Oscar Piastri who lead for so long, but looking at the head to head Norris was 15-9 up GP Qualifying 14-10 in GPs.
I think it was Baku where Piastri had a shocking weekend with the crashes in both qualifying and the Grand Prix, where momentum started to really shift towards Norris. He appeared to lose confidence, whereas after Norris crashed into Piastri in Montreal, it in hindsight, didn’t affect him as I feared it would after what has been he appeared to be stronger. He took two of the biggest wins of his year, Monaco and Silverstone, which have been in the few days to Lewis Hamilton 2007-08 and Norris 2024-25. I think it was his experience which won out over Piastri.
Piastri put up a really good fight. He would have also been a worthy world champion, but to lead the championship for the majority of the season, then cracking under pressure, which no one saw coming, I think he is capable of winning a championship. At one stage, he was seen as the driver to beat, but that’s when the mistakes started, allowing Norris to take the title.
McLaren didn’t at times make it easy, with the ‘paypa rules’, but they let them fight and tried to maintain fairness in the championship. The team has done what they needed to, though, as they were under a little bit of pressure from Verstappen, which they wouldn’t have been if the fact that Red Bull had not been consistent across the whole season.
They were always honest. They were expecting a collision between Norris and Piastri, which came in Montreal. When they did that, it could have been a ‘danger’ moment, as we know earlier in his career, he used to beat himself up and lose his way, but he won the next two.
It’s been an incredible turnaround to be champions at the first race of this generation of cars in 2022 they were fourteenth and fifteenth, despite the budget cap and the domination by Red Bull, to come back to nearly dominate the season and win both championships has to be inspiring and perhaps prove the restrictions we have since 2021 are working.
Ferrari
Ferrari had so much hope going into this season, having finished runner-up to McLaren the previous year and the signing of Lewis Hamilton, it started well pole and victory in Shanghai. But as so many drivers like Hamilton who have gone to Ferrari this season have been a nightmare, and both sides have underestimated the challenge, it has been incredible to watch them, after last year finishing as runners up to not win a Grand Prix this season.
We always knew that it would take time and China, I think gave us hope that Hamilton was going to win a Grand Prix sooner than he did when he joined Mercedes, after that sprint. That was their only win this season, which really surprised me. Looking back, it seems as something didn’t jell or the team didn’t make the step needed and went backwards to fourth in the constructors.
Hamilton, this was not only a team change but, for the first time in his career a change of power unit. I think this was underestimated by both the seven-time champion and the team. Though I don’t think it can blame, as John Elkan appeared to do, the drivers wholly for this season.
I always thought this season would be difficult for Hamilton, at least the first quarter to half, but it went on all season; he seriously needs a reset over the winter. We know he is one of the greats and he needs a better 2026, but we know ‘he isn’t looking forward to the new regulations’. I wonder if part of that is this feeling we have gotten that they aren’t listening to their drivers, they were publicly told to ‘talk less’ but if Ferrari needs to give them a car able to.
This was always going to be an important test for Leclerc as he has been with the team for eight years and has a long-term contract, but 2026 could be an important year as while he is contracted, I think until 2028, he has said “it’s now or never,” to win a championship with Ferrari. I agree.
Ferrari is in their longest drought without any drivers or constructors. It’s been several regulation cycles and two PU cycles since they last won a championship, I think they could be creeping back into those communication and strategy issues we have seen dog them for ten years, out of frustration.
This was a team which last season was fighting McLaren until the last race for the constructors. With the stability in regulations this season, there was this hope that they would have been better than last season and were fighting for the championship. But they have an opportunity next year for a reset.
Red Bull
Red Bull’s decline I think, began in the second half of last season, the car wasn’t working, and I think they have the ‘second driver problem,’ mainly because the car is geared towards Max Verstappen. I could see pretty early on in Bahrain, before we got to Melbourne, they were on the back foot. But I think Max Verstappen has to be credited with an incredible and unexpected comeback to fight for a championship.
They had a complicated season, but they should have been prepared, as to me, like with McLaren, this season has been a continuation from 2024. Though Verstappen offered a reminder of why he is a multiple champion, once they figured out how to sort the car out, but they took way too long to sort those issues out. It was like there was a witch hunt as we have seen several of the team’s senior leadership, which has run that team for the best part of it existence, have all gone.
Red Bull were according to Verstappen, ‘only in the championship because of McLaren’s mistakes’ and probably the Paypa Rules. But it all came too late for Verstappen to be able to defend his title, at the same time, perhaps that was a reminder that he is a four-time champion. They have I think, wrongly blamed first Liam Lawson, who was demoted after just two races and Yuki Tsunoda also struggled.
Maybe the thinking was that promoting Yuki Tsunoda was his experience but he struggled because I think the problem Red Bull has the team has for the last decade has become so built around Verstappen, who has such a unique driving style, that it then becomes difficult for his teammate, as he will be on his fifth teammate in six years next season. This isn’t the stability you need if you want to be fighting for championships, as Verstappen proved why he is one of the greats.
Red Bull had a lot of upheaval in the last two years, Christian Horner was sacked in the summer, Helmut Marko has left the team in recent weeks, and we know Adrian Newey left the F1 side last year before joining Aston Martin. Verstappen is the only contender at the moment, but for how long? There are rumours that if 2026 is a bad year, Verstappen could jump ship.
But the turn around maybe helpful, as in recent days, Mekies has admitted that with the Red Bull-Ford PU coming in next year. This could be even more destabilising as this regulation for the first half saw them dominant on track; however, the middle two seasons following the death of Dietrich Mateschitz, there has been infighting and several departures from the team.
But Mekies has, in the second half of this season, stabilised the team and as we know, that allowed them to come back into the championship. I don’t know how this will play out given the regulation change, as well as new partnership with Ford and their own power unit plays out.
Mercedes
This season I think, was solid. They lost Lewis Hamilton over the winter, and George Russell did step up. But they were never in the fight for the championship, which we did expect, but their season got better once Kimi Antonelli had got to grips with the car from Austria onwards. Russell, I think, was one of the drivers who needed a good season. He was now team leader; he did win a race.
But it feels to me as if they stood still and while they were consistent this season and didn’t seem to have those early season struggles with bouncing to the extremities, we have seen during the ground effect era. I think Russell played a huge role in moving the team forwards which he needed to do, especially during those early races where Antonelli was making a lot of mistakes, but there were questions in the first half of the season where it was a year too early.
However, after the podium in Montreal, as well as the flash of brilliance with pole in the sprint in Miami, were the turning points, though there were moments where he made rookie mistakes but on the whole, it was a better second half. Mercedes did pick up a win but these regulations have not been kind to them.
Obviously, they are not where they want to be, but four years since they were fighting for championships. But they need to get it right now over the winter as they have always been on the backfoot as they from the start of these regulations and have never been able to fight for a championship.
The big story which dominated the season was driver contracts though, as we expected both Russell and Antonelli to be resigned by the team. But Antonelli needs to show the consistency he did in the second half of the season if he is to have a great future. I think the way this played out was far from ideal, as it was always likely given stabilisable will be key in the regulation change.
Aston Martin
Aston Martin are another team in this transition phase, as all the investment in the team and we know the big news going into next year is that Adrian Newey was appointed as team principal. But they have been so focused on this regulation change as they reach the latter part of the decade’s plan.
Fernando Alonso is looking, despite now being in his mid-forties once again leading the team, with him again able to get the most out of the car. But again, it was another season where, after the brilliant 2023 season, they haven’t made progress in fact, they have dropped firmly into the midfield.
The team have set itself the target of challenging for championships, but this year, maybe on purpose, as they become a works team next year, it feels as if they have gone backwards. Following a very strong, at least first half of 2023, they haven’t been consistent.
It feels to me they were treading water as much of the things they announced last year aren’t coming online or have full effect until 2026. Lance Stroll in my view isn’t an exceptional driver on a consistent basis, which could partly because the car isn’t suited to his driving style.
Aston hopes that going into this next set of regulations and within the next few years they are winning races and fighting for championships. There has been a lot of focus on becoming a works team in 2026. They have everything they need to be in the position to fight for the championship. Newey has been promoted to team principal. It’s a good move as every team he has been at has become a champion.
But they are being pessimistic about their hopes of challenging for championships right away. Next year, they want to build the foundations by being in the top ten, challenging for poles and wins. I think that is them being realistic as the changes and upgrades to facilities need time to bed in as next year.
Alpine
This season I think was one where they were always going to struggle after the controversy around Renault ending its engine programme, also the return of Flabio Briatore the mastermind cheating in 1994, Spygate 2007 and Crashgate in 2008 scandals, which engulfed the team in 2009 as de facto team principal.
Crashgate scandal could be a story to watch next year, as Felipe Massa’s court case will be heard by the UK High Court next year over damages, though we know it can’t change the result.
The team hasn’t delivered, and their controversy over ending the engine programme rumbled on in the early part of the season. Alpine had their worst season under any name in there half century history for a Renault works team. It became pretty early on that Jack Doohan would not be racing for the whole season, as soon as they signed Franco Colapinto.
I don’t think Colapinto did a better job than Doohan could have; the team never had a car capable of being in the points regularly that was all down to them being in transition to be a customer team. A move which continues to be controversial, but one they could by becoming a customer team once again, don’t see how they can fight for championships.
Alpine has really struggled through I can’t off the top of my head think of a reason to why they struggled so much this season, but Pierre Gasly leads the team. As well as 2025-26 being a transition away from being a manufacturer-backed team, they almost need to prove this is the right decision, as they’ve been in decline since 2014.
You need to ask where, and what they are seeking to achieve in the future though they did get a couple of wins in 2012-13 with Mercedes engines. I think someone said ‘customer teams don’t win championships’, well, McLaren has disproved that. Over the next few years, we will see how and whether this was the right call, but they can’t be chopping and changing, as I think that has been part of the problem over the whole regulation cycle.
I joked that from reading Ross Brawn’s autobiography, it felt they rather than giving time say a few years, there isn’t time given, but this whole regulation cycle has been difficult for Renault and Alpine. This brave decision needs to pay off and if it doesn’t, they will again face question’s about there future.
Haas
This season, I wasn’t expecting much from Haas being at the end of a regulation, and there was a huge shake-up with Ayao Komatsu replacing Gunther Steiner, but under the new leadership and driver lineup.
Ollie Bearman, I think, had a decent season; however, he often just missed out on points, which is why his place in the championship doesn’t feel as I wrote in the summer that his season is representative. He had four eleventh and twelfth places, but there were no major incidents he scored points roughly the same amount as Esteban Ocon.
Ocon-Bearman, which has become known as Bearcon, make I think a solid pairing, but they need to be careful next year as it feels to me it taken the whole regulation cycle to get back to where they were heading pre-covid and the 2022 regulation change. They need to get this regulation change right and that could lead to them becoming a regular midfield team.
Ocon I think has proved that the perception of him being ‘toxic’ or didn’t get on with Pierre Gasly for want of a better phrase. But they seem to getting on well from what I’ve seen on socails and appear to be from team radio, to be able wanting the same things from the car that’s good from a team point of view.
I think next year being a regulation change they can’t afford to go backwards as its taken them four seasons to get back to where they were in 2019, before Covid and the last set of regulation changes.
They now have this sponsorship and technical partnership with Toyota along with the longstanding deal with Ferrari, so Haas could be. Let’s remember they hardly brought upgrades after the first quarter, I believe, so most of there strong results come because of opting the car, and they did a good job at that.
The biggest change came for them at the start of the year when Gunther Steiner’s contract was not renewed, but I think Komatsu who came from an engineering background could be a important step as well as the sponsorship and technical partnership with Toyota, alongside the long standing one with Ferrari.
Racing Bulls
Isack Hadjar was one of if not rookie of the season, which has led to him being promoted to Red Bull for 2026. However, it wasn’t a perfect start to his season after his crash on the way to their grid in Melbourne meaning there were fears about the talent and whether he was ready for F1, but as the season progressed, he became a solid points scorer in the increasingly tight midfield and even scored a podium in Zandvoort.
He certainly has the talent and though I am slightly worried that he does not have enough experience and that if Red Bull get it wrong, in a similar way, Liam Lawson was made almost a scapegoat for there poor start. Racing Bull’s is all about developing drivers for the senior team, maybe they demoted Lawson too soon and maybe they should have gone with Tsunoda sooner.
Lawson, I think needed more time and that’s also my concern with Hadjar being moved up to Red Bull, but Red Bull, as a family are about bringing new talent through. I believe he could be a decent driver, but time will tell. It will be interesting with the change in leadership with the development programme moving into 2026.
I think next year is a big season for them, as we know during this cycle, they have moved closer to becoming officially a B Team, in a similar way Haas has been to Ferrari, sharing parts and facilities with Red Bull. They are another team I think needs to show improvement next year.
I’ll be also be interested to see are they a stronger midfield team, Racing Bulls are clearly in a customer / B-Team position going forwards. That might help Red Bull in better developing talent, and hopefully have a car going forward to fight for championship, one of the reason the team has a UK base and shares resources with the senior team.
Williams
Carlos Sainz joined the team from Ferrari having lost his seat last year, alongside Alex Albon, there was some time he took to adapt, and it appeared to be easier compared to his Ferrari replacement, Hamilton. Once Sainz found his feet and got to grips with the power unit, he was on the same level as teammate Albon.
Sainz and Albon I think, are a solid pairing which can over the coming years with these regulations, can bring them back, firstly to becoming a regular midfield team and then go on to what they hope becomes fighting for championships during the next regulation cycle
Williams, I believe, surprised themselves as throughout the season James Vowles was saying ‘we aren’t developing this car,’ as we know the investment made by the team’s owners should come through next season. There is optimisation of what they had, having scored the podiums in Baku and Lusail with Sainz, which I believe validates the surprise to go to the British team.
They had a better season than I expected, given we were in a transitional season, and it could be interesting to see how they develop into 2026. Sainz and Albon are very experienced drivers which is why Williams signed the Spaniard to lead them into the new era.
Vowles, over the last few years, thanks to the stability in finance, has been able to build the team; they are another who has a big year as they are expecting to be on the path towards leading the midfield. Its been nearly thirty years since this once dominant team won championships, and it feels they will face the test of whether the focus on these new regulations was the right one.
Sauber
One of the highlights of the season for many was Nico Hulkenberg’s unlikely podium at Silverstone, which set a record for most races before scoring a podium. Sauber was another team I wasn’t expecting much from as the transition to Audi ownership next season. But we had a season which created opportunities for them to score points.
I think the start of the season was poor which sparked these rumours about regret by VW and Audi to enter the sport. However, once Hulkenberg scored, that podium may have eased that fear with that feel-good story. I think Gabriel Bortoleto, given he didn’t make many mistakes after those early races, scoring points from Austria onwards four more times and missed out twice. They are like many teams in this transition to new structures, factory, becoming a works team and new ownership.
That means they have been focusing on the transition and embedding new team principal Johnathan Wheatly, who will share the job with Audi project lead Mattia Binotto. These are two really experienced people who need to drive that team forward next year and towards 2030.
I think based on this year, it will take time for them to be able to make the consistent step towards the midfield team and then onto hopefully fighting with the other manufacturer teams, including car makers McLaren and Alpine. It will be interesting over the coming years how this plays out.
They have a lot of experience in that team, but unless there is a 2009-style surprise, I don’t think they will be able to fight straight away for the championship. But for all the rookies from last year they need to show progress in building that team as last time they were partnered with BMW, they pulled the plug after four seasons.
Though Sauber are I think in a different place, so is the world and sport, so I think VW need to be patient as the next few years play out and there were rumours around this time last years that the team were under German ownership that only lasted four years.
It needs time and they could do it, Honda took a lot of pain in their first four seasons before taking their first win, and they took seven seasons before powering Red Bull to four drivers and three constructors. This is a warning, I think, not just for Audi but all the constructors, but unlike the other teams, as a collective, they don’t have the experience as a team, though there are experienced
Top Ten
These are my top ten drivers ranking, not based on championship or results, but my gut feeling about how they performed over the course of the season compared to 2024, with the car and team they had, as well as their progress across the season.
Drivers |
Constructors |
|
1 |
Lando Norris – | McLaren – |
2 |
Oscar Piastri ↑ | Red Bull ↑ |
3 |
Max Verstappen ↑ | Mercedes – |
4 |
Isack Hadjar New | Haas ↑ |
5 |
Charles Leclerc – | Sauber ↑ |
6 |
Carlos Sainz – | Ferrari – |
7 |
Oliver Bearman ↑ | Williams ↑ |
8 |
Nico Hulkenberg New | Aston Martin ¯ |
9 |
Esteban Ocon New | Racing Bulls – |
10 |
Pierre Gasly New | Alpine – |
Closing Thoughts
Well, we have a new world champion, Lando Norris. As always, any champion is a worthy winner, and I think it was his experience in the crucial closing races allowed him to turn the tables on Oscar Piastri. The win here (Abu Dhabi) by Norris last year, I think was important, “this would be our year,” and so it was.
It was one of the great seasons as McLaren dominated the season, but they allowed both drivers to fight, only really using team orders to ensure a fair fight and correct team errors. Norris, only nineteen months ago, was winning his first race, but now is world champion, he has always had the speed, and I think last year gave him the advantage over Piastri, being in that fight with Max Verstappen.
Verstappen, I think, can be happy with how he stayed in this fight when he shouldn’t have been, but that is a sign of a multiple champion. McLaren, on paper look like they dominated this season. They did the first half, but both drivers were taking points out of each other, and as a fan, I loved that. Though there were moments where ‘paypa rules’ frustrated me.
Lewis Hamilton, shocking China was really a false dawn, we thought that Ferrari were in it, but the team isn’t working. Ferrari needs to get their act together after something like their fourth winless season since 2020. Apart from Shanghai, it’s been a nightmare.
Thank-you for reading this season, on a personal note, this season has be difficult at times why content dropped between Miami and Spa. Hence why I skipped Austria, but it’s been a great season and that got me through. See you in Barcelona…
