The 2025 F1 season has come to a close, with a new World Champion crowned in McLaren’s Lando Norris. It would be hard to say he didn’t deserve it, but he was pushed all the way by some equally deserving, if less popular drivers. Then there was the next level of drivers who gave way more than their team mate and/or machinery, the also rans, and Lance Stroll. To give the 2025 F1 season the send off it deserves, we go full data and opinion one last time with our 2025 F1 Season Review – Driver of the Year & Stats.
First up we have our over 2025 F1 Driver of the Season, which has been a staple of our F1 coverage for years now. Points awarded according to various achievement throughout the entire F1 weekend. A full explanation is available at the end of this article.
Then we have a summary of season stats for each driver, and in the order from best to worst according to us. Bypassing the Driver of the Year points system for a subjective look at the best and blurst.
Talking of best, we finish off with our usual 2025 season stats to highlight the best, ridicule the blurst, and settle some intra team rivalries in the mean time.
So get ready for a long read with our 2025 F1 Season Review – Driver of the Year & Stats.
2025 F1 Season Review – Driver of the Year Points
Using our Driver Points system, here are the final scores for the 2025 F1 season.
2025 F1 Season Review – Driver of the Year – Gurgler’s Choice
Going further than our own Driver of the Year points system, we order the 21 F1 pilots from 2025 in order from best to blurst in our opinion.
There isn’t much difference to the points system, but we do have a few different thoughts of the ultimate performer in 2025.
1 – MAX VERSTAPPEN
We argue that despite missing out on the Championship, Max Verstappen was the Driver of the Year in F1 in 2025. One could also argue it was one of his finest seasons despite not winning the Driver’s title. As proven by both Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, the 2025 Red Bull was no front runner, and although it did improve when Red Bull put their resources in improving the car and not the ego of their former boss, it probably should never been on pole, nor won more races than either McLaren driver. But win and take pole the Red Bull did. With Max Verstappen. If he had won the title many would have argued it was his best, so only falling a few points short gives an argument it is close to his best year. At a minimum we say he was our Driver of the Year.
2 – LANDO NORRIS
Probably the fastest car/driver combo throughout the year, but he hampered his Championship charge at times with a qualifying blip or race mistake, or in one case, an unfortunate DNF. But once he got the McLaren car and team tactics to his liking he stepped up another gear. That golden run of form got him above Oscar Piastri and far enough away from Max Verstappen to hold onto his first title. Hard to argue he doesn’t deserve it after showing plenty of speed in 2025 and occasionally being in a class by himself, especially in latter season qualifying.
3 – OSCAR PIASTRI
Looked as solid as a 10 year F1 driver in the middle of the season, looking calm and composed beyond his experience, leading the Championship with ease it seemed. But then the Italian Grand Prix team orders, and some tracks not to his taste saw him unravel for a good couple of months and that run cost him the Championship. Of course some (including us) could argue that the McLaen setup went away from him in the last third of the season, but also Oscar had some poor races. Baku was short and not very sweet, in Austin his Sprint Race first corner looked bas, Brazil he was unlucky, and Mexico he couldn’t get past a Haas. But Championship disappointment aside, one has to remember this is only three seasons into his F1 career so far, and the first one was spent in a McLaren barely more competitive than a mower. A Championship is coming, if he stays in the right car. Hopefully Mark Webber has better luck for his client.
4 – GEORGE RUSSELL
George Russell was a real nuisance in 2025, in a good way for him. He regularly threatened to take pole and started from the top three on a number of occasions. He also had two wins on merit, which is a solid effort given how competitive the McLarens have been. He may well get lucky with being in a Mercedes when the rules change for 2026 and find himself in a rocket ship. If the car is up for it, George Russell proved in 2025 that he looks well up for a title charge too.
5 – CHARLES LECLERC
Seven podiums was a decent collect for Charles Leclerc in 2025, given the Ferrari was hardly class of the field, and his more illustrious, World Champion team mate secured no podiums. (Lewis Hamilton did win a sprint race). But Leclerc was thereabouts on most weekends, if not right at the front, close enough. One does wonder how much longer he will put up with Ferrari’s lack of front running car. The new regs for 2026 might see him reconsidering,.
6 – ISACK HADJAR
6th place for Isack Hadjar means he is our 2025 F1 Rookie of the Season, and despite the Class of 2025 of F1 Rookies being the best and biggest in decades. A podium in Holland was a rich reward for being fast throughout most of the 2025 F1 season. A consistent Q3 qualifier, he also finished in the points for 10/22 races, although did go missing a few times on raceday and the car or strategy didn’t suit. A good come back from his start where he spun off on the Formation Lap of the first race of the season. His reward for 2026 is a Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen. He might be Red Bull’s best chance at a decent number two in a while.
7 – FERNANDO ALONSO
Probably higher than he deserves according to others, or higher than other 2025 F1 Seasons ratings, but where the car permitted he still showed loads of speed for an old timer. Maybe not podium or race winning speed, as the Aston Martin wasn’t quite up to that, but every now and again he would pop up with a burst of speed and threaten the front runners. There’s certainly been enough speed to warrant a 2026 crack at Adrian Newey’s first Aston Martin.
8 – CARLOS SAINZ
Was getting a bit worried for Carlos in the early part of the season that his move to Willaims was looking a dud for him, but he did turn it around in the second half of the season with two podiums. Ended up out-qualifying Alex Albon by 14-10 and more often than not made Q3 in the second half of the season.
9 – ALEX ALBON
If you combined the first half of Alex Albon’s 2025 season with Carlos Sainz’s second half of the season, you’d have a driver in the top five for 2025 for sure. Alex Albon was best of the rest for a lot of weekends in the first half of the season, but couldn’t quite get that break through of a podium for Williams in 2025. 11 points finishes in the first 16 races of the season was commendable, but going six races without at the end of the season was less so.
10 – OLIVER BEARMAN
A very good rookie season, continuing his promise from a few guest appearances in 2024. Giving Rookies a good name with hopes that F1 teams continue to take a chance on new blood rather than the solid-ness of drivers like his team mate Esteban Ocon. Bearman out-qualified Ocon 14-10 with the races at 12-12. His drive at the Mexico Grand Prix to keep Oscar Piastri was a good show of speed and race craft. And with Ferrari probably looking at one or two new drivers over the next few seasons, this Ferrari Academy prodigy hasn’t done his chances any harm.
11 – KIMI ANTONELLI
Gifted the best rookie drive since Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, Kimi Antonelli entered the 2025 season under a lot of pressure and had a classic up and down rookie season. There were glimpses of real speed and great racecraft, taking a Maimi Sprint pole, and three race podiums, mixed with a shocker of an exit in Austria where he wiped out Max Verstappen. Had a mid season slump after his Canadian GP podium, but finished the season strongly to earn himself another crack next season with Mercedes.
12 – GABRIEL BORTOLETO
Did an outstanding job as a rookie, doing well against the notoriously fast Nico Hulkenberg, with a solid five times to Q3 and five points scoring drives. Was building some real momentum for the season until a very bad home race at the Brazilian Grand Prix, then didn’t have things much better in Las Vegas. That didn’t overshadow a very good rookie season too much.
13 – NICO HULKENBERG
Finally got the podium his career deserved one of the season’s most popular results. Showed plenty of flashes of speed over the season in various sessions, but only made Q3 once. Just edged the H2H over his rookie team mate, so you possibly expected more of a thrashing there. The Sauber was much improved on previous seasons, but even so, the nine points finishes in 2025 was massive. Justifies his seat for at least next season.
14 – LEWIS HAMILTON
The last regular season driver for Ferrari that went a season without scoring a podium finish was 2014 with Kimi Raikkonen, that is an attempt to put Lewis Hamilton’s awful season into perspective. Sure, he won the Chinese GP Sprint Race, but that was the falsest of dawns as the Ferrari and Hamilton went backwards, rapidly as the season ended. He ended the season with three consecutive Q1 exits including dead last in Las Vegas. Fair to say the move to Ferrari hasn’t worked out yet, and there’s no signs that things will be any rosier in 2026.
15 – PIERRE GASLY
Hard to believe, given the competitiveness of the Alpine in 2025 that Pierre Gasly made Q3 ten times, and scored 22 points. Which was all of Alpine’s 2025 points. The season got progressively worse for Alpine in general, which is why Gasly isn’t higher up our driver of the year list.
16 – LIAM LAWSON
Looked the most out-of-depth, out-of-sorts Red Bull number two driver in a while, but given only two races which seems quite unfair. And his replacement did no better with 22 races. Rebuilt his reputation at Racing Bulls enough to be kept instead of Tsunoda for 2026 so job done to a degree. Found trouble on occasion in races, and always seemed surly which doesn’t help his likeability. But given the speed of his RB team mate, and starting a few races late, his 2025 season H2H isn’t too bad.
17 – ESTEBAN OCON
Mostly shown up by his rookie team mate is not a great look or result for this one-time Grand Prix winner. The H2H record was quite good in 2025, and his haul of 38 points isn’t too bad, but both are behind Oliver Bearman. Underwhelming but not terrible is how we describe his season.
18 – YUKI TSUNODA
Gifted the Red Bull drive at the expenses of the massively struggling Liam Lawson after two races, and then preceded to have a season where it is debatable to say Tsunoda was an upgrade. Occasional showed some speed, but so he should, it was a Red Bull after all. Lost his seat in F1 for 2026, and it’s probably fair enough. Not many drivers in the Red Bull program have been given as many chances.
19 – JACK DOOHAN
Sacked before he could shine, but whether he could in the season’s worst car is debatable. It’s not as if he set the world on fire in his six race stint. The crash in Japan was a shocker, and likely to have rubber stamped his exit from Alpine. And F1, as it is hard to see him making a comeback anytime soon.
20 – FRANCO COLAPINTO
The other driver who scored no points, and is lower than the driver he replaced simply because he had more races to attempt to score points. He was told that he was hired to go fast, score point and not crash. Pretty confident to say he failed. Not that there were flashes of speed, or chances at points, and he did keep the car out of the walls mostly, but still he remained pointless. As was, money aside, the decision to retain him for 2026.
21 – LANCE STROLL
People tell us we’re a bit harsh on Lance Stroll. We disagree.
2025 F1 Season Review – 2025 Season Stats
Here to wrap up the season review is our 2025 season stats from the year that was. The ones that featured every week with our Driver Ratings and Stats.
DRIVER H2H STATS
QUALIFYING – DRIVERS
QUALIFYING – TEAMS
FIRST LAP / RACE PROGRESS
SPRINT RACE / QUALIFYING
FREE PRACTICE
FASTEST LAP
