Across the 24-race Formula 1 calendar, who were the winners and losers from 2025 and who is looking at next season’s rules overhaul as the chance to reset?
The Winners
McLaren
McLaren revelled in a brilliant season with 14 Grand Prix victories, plus three additional Sprint Race wins, ensuring both championships headed back to Woking.
An insistence on granting both drivers equal opportunities until the end almost saw it squander the Drivers’ title, but Lando Norris did enough to land the crown.
The sole blemishes on McLaren’s record tended to be things it could have avoided, the biggest case in point being the double exclusion it endured in Las Vegas.
Max Verstappen
Following a mixed opening two-thirds to the campaign, Max Verstappen concluded 2025 as the strongest driver to almost complete a remarkable title comeback.
Six victories during the last nine races – including the last three – saw him surpass long-time championship leader Oscar Piastri, but Norris had two points in hand.
As much as he has dismissed that it cost him the ultimate prize, Verstappen’s meltdown late on in Spain was inexcusable and proved to be a big defining moment.
Williams
Much like McLaren, Williams also appears to be back on the right track, as the respected James Vowles guided the team to its best seasonal ranking since 2017.
Alex Albon, along with new team-mate Carlos Sainz, spearheaded the Grove-based squad to fifth place, while the Spaniard also scored two podiums late in 2025.
Along with those two visits to the rostrum, five other top-five results between the drivers saw both Albon (eighth) and Sainz (ninth) be classified within the top 10.
The Grove-based squad’s success came despite pivoting resources to the upcoming regulation reset earlier than the rest as it bids to continue climbing the order.
George Russell
Having impressed since his promotion to a Mercedes works seat in 2022, Russell viewed his 2025 season as his strongest – and the results are there to back it up.
While the Silver Arrows’ latest package didn’t have the ultimate pace to launch a title bid, Russell tended to unlock what the car could produce on a given weekend.
When the Mercedes was at its most competitive, Russell won in Canada and Singapore, while seven other podiums marked his most productive campaign to date.
Nico Hulkenberg
Nico Hulkenberg vindicated Audi’s call to handpick him as the experienced name to spearhead the German marque’s maiden F1 venture with an impressive 2025.
The German continued to serve as a consistent points-scoring presence once Sauber introduced upgrades that allowed the team’s C45 to be placed in the top 10.
That culminated in Hulkenberg capitalising on mixed conditions at Silverstone to clinch that elusive podium, thanks to instinctive driving and smart strategic calls.
Racing Bulls
Racing Bulls built on a promising 2024 to climb to sixth place in the most recent campaign, despite losing the talismanic Yuki Tsunoda two rounds into the season.
Isack Hadjar overcame his embarrassing crash on debut in Australia to replace Tsunoda as the side’s leading light, and he landed his maiden podium at Zandvoort.
But while the Frenchman’s exploits have seen him move up to Red Bull, Racing Bulls should be in good hands based on how Liam Lawson performed through 2025.
Oliver Bearman
Despite an inconsistent opening to his rookie campaign – where avoidable errors undermined his raw pace – Oliver Bearman ended 2025 among the best performers.
Becoming the first Haas driver to score in five straight races – crowned with fourth in Mexico – saw him end the season above experienced team-mate Esteban Ocon.
The Losers
Ferrari
Ferrari attracted all the wrong headlines throughout 2025, as the team closed out the campaign without a single win and outside the top three in the championship.
Charles Leclerc continued to star despite Ferrari’s competitive struggles with the SF-25, a capricious machine that complicated Lewis Hamilton’s attempts to adapt.
Ferrari chairman John Elkann did little to improve matters, claiming that the drivers should stop being so vocal to the media as the team’s on-track plight deepened.
There was one saving grace. The acknowledgement that McLaren would be unbeatable in 2025 triggered Ferrari to make an earlier switch to the 2026 rule changes.
Aston Martin
Aston Martin’s downturn was perhaps to be expected with the team’s extensive attention on 2025, but an eventual seventh place still marked a disappointing return.
Having been a regular podium finisher in 2023, Aston Martin failed to kick on from that success and only registered two top-five finishes across the entirety of 2025.
Yuki Tsunoda
Tsunoda received a long-awaited break with Red Bull in time to conduct his debut with the senior team on home ground in Japan, but that was a good as it ever got.
Tsunoda racked up a meagre 30 points during his 22 outings with the senior squad, as, like his predecessors, he struggled in the second seat alongside Verstappen.
It was no shock, then, that Red Bull opted not to retain him. And with no reprieve on the cards at Racing Bulls, the Japanese driver has been resigned to the sidelines.
Alpine
Alpine’s late charge to snatch sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship in 2024 had heightened expectations surrounding the team going into the past season.
However, the Enstone-based squad’s competitive struggles were laid bare through the opening races, prompting it to soon pivot attention to the impending overhaul.
That consigned Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto, who replaced Jack Doohan mid-season, to a long slog to the end as Alpine’s minimal development was exposed.
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