The Winners and Losers of the 2025 Formula 1 Season (So Far)
20 August 2025As the 2025 Formula One season settles into summer break, the standings have taken shape as a picture of successes and failures for drivers across the grid. With many drivers finding new teams for 2025, the pairings have been tested in the early stages of the season.
Some drivers have taken 2025 in their stride, extracting every ounce of performance from the cars ahead of the new regulations in 2026. Others have fallen short of expectations, finding the ‘what ifs’ looming far larger than tangible results.
Mid-Season Winners
McLaren
The McLaren duo currently stand as the clear winners from the first half of 2025. The pairing separated in the championship lead by just nine points. While behind them, Max Verstappen sits a distant 88 points from second place.
The duo has taken all but three wins in 2025, finishing nearly all with a 1-2. Dominating session after session, Norris and Piastri have quickly cemented themselves as the ones to beat. However, the battle between the two hasn’t been smooth sailing.
Oscar Piastri arguably is the biggest winner of the papaya duo. Leading the championship in his third season in F1, near equalling his teammates' win total, and consistently proving to be the level-headed championship hopeful the media have crowned him as. He’s been hungry for the title, taking wins and fighting Norris when the results allow, while staying clean and not jeopardising his results.
If he continues with his performance in the first half of the year, it’s no surprise that he’s quickly becoming the championship favourite.
This calmness has proven to be the only hurdle Lando Norris has fallen at this year, and it falls into the same problems many noticed when Norris fought Verstappen in 2024. While more often than not, you see impressive execution from the Brit, there are still glimpses of silly mistakes and avoidable issues he suffered last year. In Canada, Norris’ desperation to get ahead of his teammate put him into the wall, leaving the weekend with zero points to show for his performance.
In Hungary, a poor start almost forced him to accept a distant third-place finish if it weren’t for the strategic calls from the McLaren pit wall. Pole laps that he just wasn’t able to put together loom over weekends where he finds himself starting behind his teammate.
However, when examining his reaction to each mistake, each moment in comparison to 2024 reveals clear growth from the Brit, and his ability to fight back to the front is why he sits just nine points adrift of the title lead.
Isack Hadjar
Isack Hadjar came into 2025 as one of the more under-supported rookies. With the likes of Ollie Bearman and Kimi Antonelli getting onto the grid, the Frenchman was largely overlooked. However, he’s quickly established himself as the rookie of the year for many fans.
Isack Hadjar currently stands as the only driver not in a top team who has yet to suffer a Q1 exit in 2025. The VCARB driver is finding an impressive level of consistency in the team, which has seen a revolving door of drivers in the past few years. Despite being the newest of the Red Bull drivers, Hadjar stands second to Verstappen in the order. Outperforming both Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson.
He went into the summer break with a highest finish of sixth and looming questions regarding his future and a possible promotion to the second Red Bull seat after his consistency and calmness in the opening stages of his rookie season.
Nico Hülkenberg
Questions haunted Hülkenberg’s move to Sauber, with the team suffering from a downturn in performance that has left drivers in the team barely able to fight for points in the past few years. However, the team have defied expectations in the first half of the 2025 season.
For Nico Hülkenberg, the biggest high of the season came in Silverstone. Where, for the first time in the German’s entire career, he took a step onto the podium. Bringing the longest podium-less streak in Formula One history to an end.
The historic weekend is just the cherry on the cake of what has already been an impressive first half of the year, one marked with impressive consistency, speed and race craft that Hülkenberg has extracted from the Sauber.
Mid-Season Losers
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton’s decision to switch the silver arrows for the prancing horses was one of the biggest seat swaps in Formula One history. The news came as a shock to fans around the world. It was looked at with rose-tinted glasses, the potential of a Lewis Hamilton eighth world championship title coming at the helm of the most iconic team in the sport seeming a dream.
However, the reality has been closer to a nightmare. While struggling to get comfortable in the SF-25, Hamilton has found his sole highlight as a sprint win back in China. Since then, the seven-time world champion has suffered multiple early knockouts in qualifying, non-existent race pace and Ferrari strategy blunders.
The prancing horses have ended the streak of podium finishes at home for Lewis Hamilton. Beyond just the results for Hamilton, the season has taken a mental toll on the Brit. Before the season began, Hamilton praised what felt like his first day, a feeling he thought was long passed for him.
Now, as the season hits the mid-point, Hamilton paints a different picture, one where he admitted after Hungary that he feels as though the team should change the driver. The champion shouldering the responsibility for the poor results and consistent struggles.
Alpine Second Drivers
Franco Colapinto and Jack Doohan fall into the same category of struggles and strife seen in the first half of the 2025 season. The two drivers who have taken up one seat, the second seat at Alpine.
Jack Doohan began the season in the seat. The driver has been working with the team as a reserve for the past two years and is a member of the Alpine driver academy. However, it was clear early on that Alpine wanted to lean in the direction of Franco Colapinto. The Argentine driver, who debuted last year for Williams, quickly impressed.
For Doohan, it seemed as though nothing short of perfection could keep him in his seat, and when, like many rookies, he faltered, there was little hesitation in replacing him. After six rounds and two DNFs, the Australian driver was told he would not be returning to Formula One for Imola. His brief appearance in the series was marked only by his struggles, ending his tenure with zero points.
For Franco Colapinto, his time has not been any more successful than that of his predecessor. Despite impressing people in the Williams last season, Colapinto has been unable to extract a similar result from the Alpine.
While Pierre Gasly has picked up points and hauled the Alpine into a promising position from weekend to weekend, Colapinto still sits on zero points in eight races, with his highest points finish being a 13th place. The Argentine seems safe in his seat, though the reasons may be less due to performance and more due to the sponsorship money he comes with.
Either way, for Franco Colapinto, if the results fail to appear there’s only so long, he will be safe in his seat. Leaving Alpine looking for a third driver to fill the space, and Colapinto to reckon with the struggles of the first half of the season.
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