The 2025 Formula 1 season is going into its finishing line, and we can say that it is an exciting season so far. With only three more races to go in Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, the excitement is reaching the boiling point.
The title race is still open, with the difference between the top three drivers is a bridge that each of Lando Norris with 390 points, Oscar Piastri with 366 points, and Max Verstappen with 341 points could cross. As far as the Constructors’ race goes, that’s already in the bag for McLaren; the real race is which team will finish second?
McLaren was the dominant team this season as never before, and their win in both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championships (if Verstappen doesn’t create a miracle), will be more than deserved.
At the moment, according to Stake F1 odds, the favourite to take the championship home is Lando Norris with his odds being 1.12, followed by Oscar Piastri with 7.00, and Max Verstappen with 13.00.
Yet, this time around we’re not going to talk about racing, fast drivers, and even faster cars. Instead, we will focus on the less entertaining and more disturbing side of Formula 1, crashes. This season was marked with plenty of contact, cars flying into the stands, and misfortunes that hit the drivers on the racetrack.
With the accidents that Sauber driver, Gabriel Bortoleto had during the Sao Paolo Grand Prix Sprint and Grand Prix, we are going to recollect some of the biggest crashes of the 2025 Formula 1 season. We’re going to start with the biggest and the latest one.
Gabriel Bortoleto in Sao Paolo
Gabriel Bortoleto has had a bit misfortune on track this season. In fact his Sao Paolo adventures saw the biggest crash of the year, and probably in the last few seasons too. Not only that, but the Brazilian driver has had two separate crashes in less than 24 hours.
First, he crashed during the last lap of the Sprint Race with the young Brazilian doing around km/h at the time he impacted the barrier with the impact being recorded at 57G. The safety features of modern Formula 1 cars are truly out of this world, as witnessed by the fact that Bortoleto walked away uninjured.
What’s even more impressive is the work Stake F1 Team’s engineers managed to create a new car in less than 24 hours and provide Bortoleto a seat for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
It was unfortunate that their efforts were into vain as Gabriel crashed once again, this time during the first lap in the race. The pressure of leaving an impression and collecting points in front of his home crowd was too much for Bortoleto who crashed for the second time in two days at the same racetrack.
The emotions ran high when it came to Gabriel Bortoleto as the home crowd was behind him the whole time. It’s been a while since Brazil has had a Formula 1 driver, and Bortoleto wanted to continue in the footsteps that Barrichello and Massa left behind.
This time around he came up short short, but considering his age and talent, the next opportunity to prove himself lies just around the corner.
Yuki Tsunoda in Imola
The second biggest crash of the year belongs to Tsunoda of Red Bull Racing. His accident played out on the famous Imola circuit during Qualifying for the grand prix. Tsunoda’s crash was rather dramatic as the Japanese driver rolled his Red Bull, and it was a wonder the young Japanese driver walked away, little more than stunned by the event.
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend was one filled with red flags, and the first one was thrown when Tsunoda flipped his car into the barrier separating the racetrack and the fans.
Tsunoda was trying to get the best out of his car during the initial laps of Qualifying when he lost control at Turn 6 spinning into the gravel at high speed. At first the car flipped, rolled over, hit the tire barrier, and then flipped back onto the gravel in an upright position once again.
It was immediately clear that despite the significant impact that the car had with the barrier, that the driver was good to go, as Tsunoda jumped out of his car in a matter of seconds after the accident and walked away.
Lando Norris in Jeddah
The McLaren star, Lando Norris, and the current Formula 1 points leader and favourite to take home the 2025 FIA Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship is proof that mistakes can be made by seasoned professionals in top racing cars and not only by inexperienced rookies.
Success comes at a price and Norris is proof of this. Some fans even jokingly are calling Lando the living test dummy considering how often his car had needed to be repaired this season.
But the only moment when everyone at McLaren was really worried about Norris, was during Qualifying in Jeddah for the 2025 Saudi Arabian F1 Grand Prix. At the start of Q3 Norris crashed out, which was at a time seen as a big blow to his title aspirations.
The accident happened exiting Turn 4 at a speed of 250 km/h, when the McLaren driver lost control of his car. Before the accident, Norris was the fastest driver in Q2, but due to his accident, the McLaren star was forced to start the race from 10th on the grid.
Despite Lando being angry at himself after realising what he had done, everyone at McLaren, his fans in the crowd, plus all those who watching from hom were relieved that the Brit walked away from the accident unscathed.
