F1 2025 awards: Best driver, biggest disappointment and top overtake

Lando Norris won the 2025 drivers’ world championship, but who else impressed? Formula 1 correspondent Kieran Jackson picks through the good, the bad and the ugly of an entertaining and dramatic season on track

Lando Norris claimed his first F1 drivers’ championship at the final race in Abu Dhabi, with the McLaren driver securing the title by just two points over Max Verstappen.

The season finale at Yas Marina saw the title race go down to the season-decider for the first time in four years – and the first time between more than two drivers since 2010, with Oscar Piastri also in contention but ultimately finishing third.

While there was plenty of drama at the front of the grid, it was a woeful year for Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, and fans of the seven-time world champion as his debut year with the Scuderia went horribly wrong.

The reshuffle of the F1 grid in 2026 is now set, too, with Isack Hadjar’s rise at Red Bull and a debut campaign awaiting British teenager Arvid Lindblad, with a host of teams eyeing improvement in a new phase of rules and regulations.

But before focusing on next year, here’s how everything went down in 2025 with The Independent’s F1 awards for 2025:

Best driver: Max Verstappen

The fact that the irrepressible 28-year-old was still in contention heading into the final race, and ultimately finished just two points behind championship winner Norris, speaks volumes.

The Dutchman astonishingly secured the most wins on the grid – eight, one ahead of both Norris and Piastri – in the third-quickest car on the grid. From a deficit of 104 points with nine races to go, it was a comeback which nearly resulted in a miracle.

Japan, Imola and Austin were Verstappen’s best wins, in a year where his pedigree has shot up skywards. Turns out, folks, it’s not just about the car. He is clearly the standout driver on the grid.

Podium places: Lando Norris, George Russell

Max Verstappen finished just two points behind Lando Norris (Getty)

Best team: McLaren

Despite their issues towards the end of the season, particularly their double disqualification in Las Vegas, it shouldn’t be forgotten how far clear McLaren were of the rest for the majority of the campaign.

The papaya-clad team secured the constructors’ championship with six races remaining and, in the end, finished 364 points clear of second-placed Mercedes.

Where Ferrari, who only missed out on last year’s team title by 14 points, made no progress at all, McLaren’s car came on leaps and bounds, giving both their drivers the machinery to challenge for a maiden drivers’ title. Much credit should go to the composed team principal, Andrea Stella, chief designer Rob Marshall and CEO Zak Brown for assembling a brilliant team behind the scenes.

Podium places: Williams, Sauber

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris enjoyed a fine season with McLaren (PA Wire)

Worst team/driver – Alpine/Franco Colapinto

Colapinto was the only driver on the grid by the end of the season who failed to score a point this year, amid a campaign where the playing field has narrowed and in which his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly scored all 22 of the team’s points.

Even more startling, then, is that the Argentine retained his seat for 2026, despite showing no improvement from the unfortunate Jack Doohan, axed after six races.

Ditching their power unit programme next year and taking on Mercedes engines, Flavio Briatore has some job on to revitalise a team who, 20 years ago, were top of the pile as Renault and Fernando Alonso as world champion. Then again, as has been rumoured, could Christian Horner come in and reverse their fortunes?

Podium places: Aston Martin/Lance Stroll, Ferrari/Lewis Hamilton

Biggest disappointment: Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari

No-brainer. F1’s biggest move of all time went cataclysmically worse than anyone could have predicted in year one: never mind a title challenge or simply a race victory, the seven-time world champion was not even able to register a grand prix podium, for the first time in his 19-year career.

Ferrari did not deliver with the car, that’s for sure. Yet Charles Leclerc’s seven podiums show how the Monegasque squeezed the best results possible out of a dire situation in a way Hamilton, so peculiarly, could not.

It’s also notable that Carlos Sainz, whom Hamilton replaced at Ferrari, picked up two top-three finishes at Williams. Kimi Antonelli, his replacement at Mercedes, registered three podiums.

But should Hamilton rip up his contract and retire? Absolutely not. Those excruciating last few weeks are no way to conclude a historic F1 career. With any luck, Ferrari will listen to Hamilton’s know-how and experience as opposed to shutting him out. The Brit and Leclerc – whose prime years are being wasted right now – deserve better in 2026. Whether they’ll get any improvement is another question altogether.

Podium places: Liam Lawson at Red Bull; Franco Colapinto at Alpine

Lewis Hamilton described his first year at Ferrari as a ‘nightmare’ (PA Wire)

Best overtake: Max Verstappen, Imola

Present on-site for this one, the gasps in the media centre said it all.

Verstappen sprang from third to first with a mesmeric pass, threading his car through the eye of a needle at Tamburello and startling Piastri out in front. It was a race-winning overtake.

Podium places: Oscar Piastri on Lewis Hamilton, Australia; Lewis Hamilton on Liam Lawson, Austria

Best race: Australian Grand Prix

Plenty of contenders here, with Silverstone unfortunate to miss out, but the rain in Melbourne on the season-opening weekend ruffled a fair few feathers.

We had crashes on the formation lap, changes in the race lead and drama at the end, with home hero Piastri sliding off track. It was one of Norris’s best wins, setting him up for the season ahead.

Aside from that, with nearly half a million fans in attendance, Albert Park reclaimed its rightful place as the top-billing season-opening venue, a title it thankfully keeps from Bahrain for 2026.

Podium places: British Grand Prix, Brazilian Grand Prix

The 2025 season started with bang in the rain in Melbourne (Getty Images)

Worst race: Monaco Grand Prix

Farcical stuff. The enforced two-stop regulation was designed to improve the typically dull principality spectacle. And good on the FIA for trying something different.

However, the strategists were two steps ahead. Racing Bulls and Williams split their drivers up, got one to hold up the pack and allow the other to pit, and keep position. Ingenious, and back to the drawing board for the rule-makers.

Essentially, nothing will change in Monaco until they can change the track. Tricky, but despite what some people say, not impossible.

Podium places: Qatar Grand Prix, Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Monaco’s two-stop rule did not work (Getty Images)

Best rookie: Isack Hadjar

When the Frenchman crashed on the formation lap at the season-opener in Australia, not many would have predicted he’d be Max Verstappen’s teammate-in-waiting for the season after.

Yet 10 top-10 finishes over the course of the season, including a memorable first podium in Zandvoort, means Hadjar takes on F1’s poisoned chalice in 2026.

Whether he can make it work, where so many before him have failed, is another question altogether.

Podium places: Ollie Bearman, Kimi Antonelli

Isack Hadjar celebrates his podium in Zandvoort (PA Wire)

Bold prediction for 2026: George Russell will be world champion

Not much to go on given the massive regulation change, but all the talk is that Mercedes are the frontrunners given the focus on the engine.

That would put Russell, who just enjoyed his best season to date, among the title contenders. At 27, heading into his eighth F1 season, the King’s Lynn driver is more than ready to take on that mantle.

A 12th British F1 champion? Don’t write it off.

Podium places: Fernando Alonso to win first race in 13 years; All 22 drivers will score at least one point

George Russell finished fourth in this year’s world championship (Getty Images)