Winners and losers from the first half of the 2025 Formula One season

With the 2025 Formula One season at its halfway point, let’s take a look back at some of the teams and drivers that have had a great jump off the start line and some that have yet to climb the championship tower. From the likes of a first-time podium for Nico Hulkenberg to a disappointing start in red for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari after his move from Mercedes, the 2025 season has delivered in terms of both the expected and the unexpected.

(Image Credit to Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)

Winners - Written by Charlotte:

McLaren

After a glorious end for Mclaren in 2024, winning the constructors championship and taking maiden victories, they have come back stronger than ever, they've won roughly 75% of the first 12 races this year. The team is running the constructors championship in first place with 460 points, over double the amount of the team in second place (Ferrari) and both drivers are doing very well in the drivers championship. Oscar Piastri (who only claimed his maiden victory at Hungary last year) is currently leading the drivers championship this season, with teammate Lando Norris close behind in second place.

But why is it that Mclaren are performing so well? Their recent highlights have been a mixture of a well structured team - with very efficient employees who are trusted in what they do, a strong driver pairing with excellent performance and a variety of car upgrades. All of this proves their worth as a team and shows their competitors that they are capable of potentially winning both the driver and constructor championships.

Max Verstappen

Starting the 2025 Formula One season with 4 back-to-back driver championships, all eyes were on Max Verstappen. Can he do it again? Will he become his team’s first 5 time world champion amid the chaos and controversy that Red Bull racing face? From leaked messages to losing key members of the organisation, the Dutch Lion looked to make and break even more records.

As we look back on the first 12 races of this season, Verstappen’s performance has been skillful, while not the exceptional dominance he has shown in previous years, there is no denying that his passion and skill as a racing driver still remains. He currently sits third in the championship standings, and as of the British Grand Prix, he has 2 wins and 4 poles, having stood on the podium 5 times with 165 points.

This all shows that Max’s victories in his career come from his raw talent in Formula One. With his ability to perform incredibly well under pressure, highlighted from his excellent lap times and strategic maneuvers. 

The cherry on top for Max Verstappen this season would be winning his fifth championship title, this would not only put any rumours of unrest at ease for him, but it would also put him on an equal record with Michael Schumacher, winning 5 championships back-to-back.

Mercedes 

After losing 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton to the Italian prancing horses of Ferrari, Mercedes looked to come back even stronger with George Russell being promoted to lead driver, and a new signing in 18 year old Kimi Antonelli. The Silver Arrows looked to come back better than before with the new W16, building on a range of improvements made towards the end of the 2025 season.

A graduate of the Mercedes junior programme, Kimi Antonelli has already had an impressive start to his first Formula One season, finishing 4th in his first ever race back in Melbourne, and more recently standing on the podium for the first time in his career, taking 3rd place in Canada. Going into the second half of the season he sits in 7th place in the WDC with 63 points.

Kimi’s teammate - the experienced Mercedes driver of George Russell, has already added to his victory tally this season, taking first place in Canada, and standing on the podium 5 times. He currently sits fourth in the drivers championship standings, and with 12 races to go - there is plenty of time to increase his position.

Williams

Over the past few years Williams have been a midfield team, with a variety of driver lineups and changes in key members of staff - such as signing James Vowles as team principal - but 12 races in to the 2025 season and they are already showing huge growth, signs of success and potential for podiums and race wins. With Vowles showcasing a strong sense of leadership, clear communication, a positive attitude, and maintaining team performances, it’s clear that the success of Williams this year will carry forward in future seasons - with the team already looking at ways to improve the car when the 2026 regulations are introduced.

Alex Albon- The Thai-British racer is shaping up to have one of his best seasons in F1 since joining the Grove-based team. So far he has scored more points than his entire 2022-2024 season totals. Looking past his recent triple DNFs in Spain, Austria and Canada, Alex has achieved personal bests in a few races, including Australia, China and Japan.

Carlos Sainz- With Sainz joining the team for the start of this season, many bet him to have poor performance and struggle to show the potential and results he had at Ferrari and previous teams. While that may be true in some races, he has shown flickers of potential, especially in free practice sessions at the start of race weekends. He’s brought valuable experience and a strong positive influence to the team, showing the hope and success the team are aiming for in future seasons.

Sauber

Ahead of the Swiss based team’s switch to Audi next season, they’ve shown significant improvements and success compared to previous seasons. They currently sit 6th in the constructor’s standings with 41 points, an already huge improvement on last year’s final results of 10th place with 4 points.

Following on from back to back championship wins in Formula 2 and 3, rookie driver Gabriel Bortoleto has shown signs of potential, with fighting for points and making a Q3 appearance, he constantly improves and learns with every race weekend.

The second half of the Sauber line-up this year is Nico Hulkenberg, and after 15 seasons in the sport, he’s achieved major successes. He scored points in 5 of 12 races, had multiple Q3 appearances and achieved a maiden podium after finishing P3 in the British Grand Prix. He is currently 9th in the drivers championship battle with 37 points.

With 12 races of the season left - it’s all to play for.

Losers - Written by Noah:

Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton’s move to the Scuderia put heavy expectations on the team’s shoulders, with many expecting them to win at least one championship in 2025. 

But twelve race weekends into 2025, it’s clear that they can’t even win a race. Yes, Lewis Hamilton won the China sprint race, but that is barely a third of the length of a Grand Prix. 

So what’s the problem for Ferrari? Some of the issues can be seen to boil down to confusing and just plain awful strategy calls. From Lewis Hamilton getting pulled into the pits with just 20 laps left in the Austrian Grand Prix and with the Brit in a position to overtake his teammate for third, to pulling both cars into the pits late in the Australian Grand Prix despite being in a position to take home the win, terrible strategy calls can be seen to cost Ferrari valuable championship points. Maybe, just maybe, if those strategy calls had gone differently, Ferrari would be a lot closer to McLaren in both the Drivers and Constructors Championships.

So what now? With Ferrari’s championship hopes basically extinguished, the goal for the Scuderia should be to try and maintain the status quo. Considering that Ferrari has finished second in two of the last three seasons, that should constitute part of the status quo. Another part of said status quo? Winning a race, which is something Ferrari has done in each of the previous three seasons but has not yet achieved this year. 

With that said, there is still time for Ferrari to turn this season around. But considering that Ferrari will completely miss the mark on all of the expectations bestowed upon them heading into 2025, failure to win a race - or even to turn things around - will not be taken well by the Ferrari faithful.

Red Bull (minus Max Verstappen)

Max Verstappen’s crash in Austria serves as proof of one thing: the Red Bull car is built around Max Verstappen and only Max Verstappen. 

We see it in the point tallies too. As of the British Grand Prix, Max Verstappen has scored a whopping 165 points to Yuki Tsunoda’s 7 (not including the points Yuki Tsunoda scored at Racing Bulls). 

It’s not just a Yuki Tsunoda or a Liam Lawson problem too. Past Red Bull drivers have also struggled with the setup of the Red Bull car. But considering that Sergio Perez was still able to deliver decent results throughout his four years in the second Red Bull car, it’s really only been recently that these issues have become major ones for Red Bull. 

Such issues, however, have seemingly cost Christian Horner his job. While the major issue at play in that regard is arguably the increasing tensions with Max Verstappen and his camp, car-related problems did play a role in Red Bull’s higher-ups deciding to move on. 

So what’s next for Red Bull? How to salvage an unsalvageable season? What does the future look like? 

In the short-term, the goal for new team principal Laurent Mekies will be to try and get both Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda on the same page. That, however, is going to be easier said than done. Major setup changes will need to be made to Yuki Tsunoda’s car to even get him close to Max Verstappen in terms of results. However, last season, Yuki Tsunoda earned his best Driver’s Championship finish (12th) yet and came two points short of his career-best point haul of 32 in 2021. All of that came under the leadership of Laurent Mekies when he was the Racing Bulls team principal. This should give Yuki Tsunoda and Red Bull fans optimism that the season can be salvaged in some form. 

That said, what does salvaging the season look like? With Red Bull starting to fall further away from Mercedes and Ferrari for the fight for second place in the Constructors Championship, only a quick turnaround in form can get Red Bull back in contention to be vice-champions. Unless the team scores almost 35 points a race weekend, reaching the 589 point mark set by last season’s Red Bull team will be next to impossible. But considering that Ferrari and Mercedes, who are second and third in the Constructor’s table, are currently scoring 18.5 and 17.5 points per race weekend respectively, simply getting to that rate could help Red Bull earn some momentum back. At that point, maybe the chase for second is back on? Who knows. But scoring just over 14 points per weekend as a team isn’t helping in that regard; that rate has to go up if Red Bull are to reverse the damage of their early season struggles. 

Carlos Sainz

I will give Carlos Sainz some credit - most of this has to do with the fact that he is in his first season with his new team. It’s also worth considering that nobody expected Alex Albon to have the kind of season he’s having - the Thai driver already has 46 points to his name, which is good enough for eighth in the Driver’s Standings. 

That said, it is reasonable to start asking if Carlos Sainz’ results are indicative of something more of a trend. While Williams doesn’t have the same resources or even the same car as Ferrari, Carlos Sainz should be scoring points on a more consistent basis at this point. That should be the goal for the second half of the season; with Alex Albon only recently emerging from a down period that saw him DNF in three consecutive races, it is clear that Williams needs to ensure Carlos Sainz is on the top of his game in order to ensure the team is still able to bring point finishes home. This becomes increasingly important when considering that not only is Williams’ advantage for fifth down to just eighteen points, but that they have been outscored by at least one bottom-five team in each of the last five races. 

Hopefully the Spaniard is able to find some form after a three-week break between Silverstone and Spa and allow for his team to start to rebuild the advantage they had for fifth. Otherwise, any future chances at finding a contract elsewhere in Formula One might become non-existent. 

Two out of three Alpine drivers

Before the season started, I predicted Alpine to finish in ninth. 

They are currently in tenth at midseason.

And looking back at my own predictions for the season, I wasn’t far off. In my own Constructors Championship preview, I said that it was going to be a rough first stretch of the season for Alpine at the very least.

And what do you know? While Alpine has scored ten points more than they did at this point last season, all nineteen points have come from Pierre Gasly. But perhaps the main issue comes in the form of Gasly’s teammates. While they’re not bad drivers, being given the pressure to perform in an environment like that of Alpine’s as a rookie is, to say the least, intimidating. Ahead of Jack Doohan’s six races in the Alpine car, Flavio Briatore secured the signature of Franco Colapinto to be Alpine’s reserve driver for 2025. Considering that Colapinto had a decent run to finish 2024, the pressure was already on the young Aussie. And the pressure did get to him. 

Enter Franco Colapinto. While slight improvements in qualifying and race results could be seen, Franco Colapinto was unable to deliver anything that could significantly differentiate him from Jack Doohan. Worse, Colapinto’s latest race start for Alpine at Silverstone saw him crash out of the first round of qualifying, before failing to even start the next day’s race. 

So where does Alpine go from here? While a fifth-consecutive Constructor’s finish of sixth or better (not including the Renault years) is not yet out of the question as the team currently sits just twenty-two points back of Sauber in sixth, such an aspiration is quickly slipping away. And with even more driver changes expected in the near future, as it is rumoured that Valtteri Bottas will be put into the second Alpine seat, it is clear that whoever is paired up with Pierre Gasly must be able to deliver point finishes or else face a similar fate to that of Jack Doohan and (likely) Franco Colapinto. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Article written by Noah Guttman and Charlotte Taylor